Solar Energy Division of EIE has been carrying on research, development, information dissemination and demonstration activities since 1982.

Solar Collector Tests

Test platform was installed at the Renewable Energy Park of EIE, with the aim of supporting the manufacturers for a more efficient production.

Thermal performance experiments of the Turkish Standards on solar collectors “TS‑3680” is also performed in the test laboratory.

Efficiency test of the collectors developed by any person, manufacturer or entity can also be performed in the test laboratory.

Ground Source Heat Pump

Ground source of heat pumps are a form of geothermal energy utilization. In order to investigate the technical and economic aspects of GSHP’s a demonstration system was installed in the Renewable energy Park of EİE in 2002.

Solar Cooker

Solar cookers concentrate the solar beam to reach to a high temperatures and are used especially in the under developed countries. The experimental solar cooker manufactured by EİE for demonstration purposes can reach to temperatures around 750 ºC. 

Photovoltaic Lighting Units

Battery of the system is charged by the electricity generated by photovoltaic modules during the day. Currently 5 units are installed, 2 in Ankara AOÇ, 2 in Didim Research and Training Center of EIE and a 1 in the EIE building in Ankara. There is also a 160 Wp lighting system in Didim.

Photovoltaic Area Lighting

A 1000 Wp PV system is used for outdoor area lighting in Didim Research and Training Center.

Photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems

Of the systems that can be used in small scale agricultural irrigation, the first consists of 616 Wp PV modules, an inverter and a submersible pump. The economical calculations indicated that the system is economically competitive with diesel engines, in sites without grid.

Another water pumping system with 756 Wp power is installed at the Renewable energy Park of EIE.

Photovoltaic Traffic Warning System

The system consists of a 50 Wp pv module and 70 Ah battery, as well as a flashing lamp.

Grid-Connected 4,8 kWp Photovoltaic ystem

While the traditional utilization of photovoltaic system has been the remote areas without grid, in recent years, the number of grid connected PV systems has increased greatly.

Since Turkey has a very high electrification rate, a research on grid connected project was realized. As the first grid connected photovoltaic system in Turkey, the 4,8 kWp system installed in Didim Research and Training Center has been operating since 1998.

Grid-Connected 1,2 kWp Photovoltaic System

Another grid-connected system with a 1,2 kWp, was installed in EIE Renewable energy Park for demonstration purposes.

As a beginnig to the solar energy potential determination, EIE had evaluated the historical solar energy data measured by the State Meteorological Organization between the years of 1968-1982.The results were published in two reports in 1983. On the basis of these evaluations, it is concluded that the average annual value of sunshine hours is 2640 and annual average solar intensity is 3.6 kWh /m²-day, while maximum annual sunshine hours is 3016 hours and maximum solar intensity is 5,8 kWh/m2 –day.

Since the existing meteorological data was not technically sufficient, EIE has initiated a second project in cooperation with the State Meteorological Service. The aim of this project is to determine the actual solar potential nation wide with the help of data to be measured with 5 solar data acquisition systems. Data gathering period is 5 years for each station. The measured data are the total and diffuse solar radiation on the horizontal surface, bright sunshine duration and ambient temperature.

To this end, solar data acquisition systems have been installed in total 8 locations: Antalya, İzmir, Ankara, Aydın, Adana, Isparta, Kayseri and Balıkesir. The measurements in Antalya, İzmir and Aydın were completed.

With the data gathered from these measurements and by using the data from the stations of State Meteorological Organisation, the solar radiation and sunshine duration of 58 cities were calculated using a model. The report was published in 2001 as “The Solar Radiation and Sunshine Duration of Turkey”.