40,000 “Forest Villagers” in Turkey Heat Water with the Sun
 40,000 “Forest Villagers” in Turkey Heat Water with the Sun

40,000 “Forest Villagers” in Turkey Heat Water with the Sun

Paid via interest-free credit: a solar water heater from the supplier Sergün, installed at a forest village.

 

The number of “forest villages” (Turkish coined for remote villages) in Turkey who benefit from solar thermal technology is growing rapidly, according to a new statistic published by the General Directorate of Forest and Village Relations (ORKÖY). Since the start of the programme in 2004, a total of 40,370 families have received an interest-free credit to buy a solar water heater – over half of them in 2008 (see table below). The credit, covering 100 % of the investment costs for a solar water heater, has to be repaid in three equal instalments, starting one year after installation. 

 

  Number of families which benefited from a credit Total amount of credit in Lira
2004 31 31,000
2005 553 486,327
2006 4,523 5,165,971
2007 14,611 17,292,237
2008 20,652 25,745,574
Total 40,370 48,721,109

Source: General Directorate of Forest and Village Relations (ORKÖY)

 

In order to benefit from the credit programme, the village chief has to apply at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in written form, so that the village may be included in ORKÖY´s District Forest Villages Development Plan of that year, the Turkish solar system provider Sergün Solar Energy Systems informs on its website. “We already installed around 3,000 systems to forest villagers,” says Mehmet Eren, the sales manager from Sergün.  

 

Forest villagers are the poorest demographic in Turkey. Around 7.5 million people live in around 20,500 forest villages. In order to improve their lives and also protect the nature and forestry, ORKÖY has established the social credit programme, which can be used to finance solar energy systems, as well as roof cover or cooking instruments.

 

 

More information:

Sergün Solar Energy Systems

General Directorate of Forest and Village Relations (ORKÖY)

 

Baerbel Epp

Bärbel Epp is Founder and Director of the German communication and market research agency solrico and editor-in-chief of solarthermalworld.org