**7. The role of hydropower and dams for sustainable energy**

total installed capacity of small hydropower is 176 MW in 70 locations, with annual genera‐ tion of 260 GWh. Ten units are under construction with a total installed capacity of 53 MW and estimated annual production of 133 GWh. Furthermore, 210 projects are under planning with a

**Renewable energy sources 1990 1995 2000 2002 2004**

Primary energy supply

Hydropower (ktoe) 1991 3057 2656 2897 3038

Geothermal, solar and wind (ktoe) 461 654 978 1142 1215

Biomass and waste (ktoe) 7208 7068 6457 5974 5728

Renewable energy production (ktoe) 9660 10779 10091 10013 10001

Share of total domestic production (%) 38 40 38 40 42

Share of TPES (%) 18 17 12 13 12

Generation

Hydropower (GWh) 23148 35541 30879 33684 35330

Geothermal, solar and wind (GWh) 80 86 109 153 145

Renewable energy generation (GWh) 23228 35627 30988 33837 35480

Share of total generation (%) 40 41 25 26 25

Total final consumption

Geothermal, solar and wind (ktoe) 392 580 910 1048 1134

Biomass and waste (ktoe) 7208 7068 6457 5974 5728

Renewable total consumption (ktoe) 7600 7648 7367 7022 6882

Share of total final consumption (%) 18 15 12 12 11

**Table 5.** Renewable energy supply in Turkey [3,12].

total capacity of 844 MW and annual production of about 3.6 TWh [3,29].

12 New Developments in Renewable Energy

The generation of hydropower provides an alternative to burning fossil fuels or nuclear power, which allows for the power demand to be met without producing heated water, air emissions, ash, or radioactive waste. Of the two alternatives to hydropower, in the last decade, much attention has been given to thermal power production because of the adverse effect of CO2 emissions. With the increasing threat of greenhouse gases originating from such anthropogenic activities on the climate, it was decided to take action. Thus the Framework Convention on Climate Change was enacted on 21 March 1994 and has been signed by 174 countries to date [3,31].

Dams that produce electricity by this most productive renewable clean energy source in the world provide an important contribution to the reduction of air pollution. The result of an investigation held in the USA suggests that the productivity of hydroelectric power-plants is higher than 90% of thermal plants and this figure is twice that of thermal plants. In case of Turkey, the public has been wrongly informed. Some people have claimed that hydro plants do not produce as much energy as planned because of irregular hydrological conditions and rapid sedimentation of reservoirs. It is also claimed that the cost of the removal of dams entirely filled by sediment at the end of their physical lives is not considered in the total project cost, and that there are major problems in recovering the cost of investment and environmental issues [3,5,31].
