Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 26
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), with the participation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is holding a roundtable meeting in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on plans for the development of renewable energy in the country, Trend reports referring to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.
Representatives of the Ministry of Energy of Turkmenistan and the Turkmen State Energy Institute are also taking part in the event. The parties hold discussions on projects based on government priorities and on their subsequent integration into the national strategy for the development of renewable energy.
As part of the energy saving program developed in Turkmenistan for the period up to 2024, emphasis will be made on the construction of solar power plants. Turkmenistan is rich in solar energy and desert sand, which contains silicon. The country aims to export silicon, which is the basic chemical element for the creation of equipment that allows to obtain environmentally friendly electricity, to the global market.
Local scientists talk about the possibilities of using solar energy in automobile transport enterprises, the economic efficiency of using renewable energy sources, the development of automation systems for alternative energy sources, and the potential for obtaining thermal energy from used deep wells. In Turkmenistan, the duration of a sunny day reaches 16 hours in July, and the energy of the sun's rays falling on one square meter is 800 watts. There are about 300 sunny days a year in the country, and the duration of sunny days comes to 2500-3000 hours.