Review of Turkey's current energy status: A case study for wind energy potential of Canakkale province

Turkey is a free market economy that is oriented towards Western markets. It also has strong ambitions to join the European Union and this factor has been beneficial but also taxing with respect to its changing economic situation. Turkey imports nearly 70% of its energy requirements. The country spends 40-50% of its total export income to import fuel, mainly crude oil and natural gas. On the other hand, Turkey has significant wind energy potential because of its geographical characteristics, such as its shoreline and mountain-valley structures. The sea fronts of the Agean, Marmara, Mediterranean, and Black Seas, and some places of the Southeast Anatolian belt have a high wind potential, with an average speed of 4.5-10 m/s. Studies put wind-energy potential in terms of the technical aspects in the region of 80 GW. Canakkale province that has more than 10% of the country's total installed wind power has been presently chosen for the case study. In the present study, hourly time-series wind data recorded from the year 2000 to 2005 at a height of 10 m in Canakkale city centre and Bozcaada, an island in the Aegean Sea belonging to the Canakkale province, has been statistically analysed. Overall, Bozcaada, with an annual mean density value higher than 350 W/m(2), offers a much higher wind potential than the former location, indicating sufficient wind potential for large scale electricity generation. The mean power density value in the northeastern direction is highest for the typical year in Bozcaada with a value of 901.6 W/m(2), while the directional power density distribution shows that over 60% of the wind energy comes from the band between northern and northeastern directions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.