Is excessive geothermal licensing in Turkey overestimating actual resources?
Alexander Richter
20 Nis 2011
A recent article in Turkish media is discussing geothermal development in Turkey and the huge amount of geothermal licenses having been given out. The article argues that a majority of those licenses might actually not be representing great development potential.
A recent article in Turkish media is discussing geothermal development in Turkey and the huge amount of geothermal licenses having been given out. The article argues that a lot of those licenses are actually not translating directly into geothermal potential and that the majority of those licenses might actually be worthless.
So while “the recently negotiated agreement between Italian Enel Green Power and Turkish Uzun Group represents a vital step for Turkish geothermal investment, … pessimists have expressed concerns about “risky licenses.”, so the article.
“The agreement covers more than 140 licenses, with critics pointing to risks of “unsubstantiated reserves” found in the absolutely major of the recently purchased geothermal sites.
“Over 3,200 geothermal exploration licenses have been delivered, but only about 300 of them are worth something, and the sheer majority of those are low-grade resources that could not be used for power generation,” said Ümran Serpen, professor at Istanbul Technical University.
“There are so many of those worthless licenses and you find people who are eager to market them and a few have made handsome profits by simply marketing a few licenses,” he told the Daily News. “I will not say that somebody is cheating Enel, but it’s a risky business, and we’ll see the results.”
For the full article see link below.
