Energy watchdog drafts regulation on electricity storage


Turkey's newly prepared regulation on electricity storage, which will be an exposure draft next week, enables the country use more renewable resources and increase energy security, according to the draft seen by Anadolu Agency (AA).

Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) experts prepared the regulation draft by analyzing energy storage technologies and practices worldwide.

When the regulation is implemented and storage facilities are established, surplus electricity, particularly from renewable energy resources, will be stored.

This will enable Turkey to meet its electricity demand via storage facilities during peak hours; thus, the share of renewable energy resources in the country's energy mix will rise.

Turkey had 7,000 megawatts of installed wind power, 5,000 megawatts of installed solar and 1,260 megawatts of installed geothermal capacity by the end of 2018.

The country aims to increase its renewable energy capacity in the next decade with 10,000 megawatts of wind and 10,000 megawatts of solar energy capacity.

When the surplus of other electricity generation sources is stored, this also will boost energy security in Turkey.

It is also projected that the storage facilities will help create a more balanced grid operation.

According to the draft regulation, electricity storage will be a market operation and will be implemented in line with the market rules.

EMRA Head Mustafa Yılmaz said the authority's experts prepared the draft after intensive, detailed work.

He said electricity regulation is of great importance for the energy sector.

"Storage facilities will not only contribute to our energy security but also increase energy efficiency. We will put the draft into a final form after we get contributions from the sector," Yılmaz concluded.