Mehmet Şişman, vice chairman of the Turkish Association of Geothermal Power Plant Investors (JESDER), said geothermal energy has risen to 1,053 megawatts installed capacity thanks to a law enacted by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in 2007.
At a meeting with a group of journalists, the JESDER chairman said that the geothermal energy industry has grown by 60 percent to 70 percent or more since 2007.
"Our installed power in geothermal energy in 2007 was approximately 25 megawatts, but now we have reached 1,053 megawatts, and we will end the year with 1,086 megawatts," he said.
Şişman said the support mechanism to be implemented in the geothermal industry after 2020 needs to be announced very soon. He also stressed that it is necessary to take precautions and deploy support mechanisms today in order to ensure that plant investments that will require at least three years to be installed continue so that they can be commissioned after 2020 as well.