Environmental Impact of the Utilization of Geothermal Areas

Turkey is one of the fastest growing power markets in the world and is facing an ever-increasing demand for power in the coming decades. Geothermal is one of its important renewable energy sources; Turkey is rated the 7th country in the world in terms of geothermal potential. The country's installed capacity is 992 MWt for direct use and 20.4 MWe for power production. These are expected to almost triple in the next ten years and more than quadruple in the next twenty years.

Geothermal energy is generally accepted as being an environmentally benign energy source. Geothermal development over the last forty years in Turkey has shown that it is not completely free of impacts on the environment. Environmental impacts are projected to limit the use of this needed energy resource. Geothermal waters of Turkey are highly mineralized with elevated levels of arsenic (As), boron (B), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb), resulting in scaling and corrosion. Because they are not reinjected, geothermal discharges also result in an observed contamination of soil and waterways. Reinjection is recommended to be installed as a standard procedure to avoid these adverse impacts.

Keywords:

• environmental impact
• geothermal
• pollution
• trace elements

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Kevin Brown for critical reviews of the manuscript.