Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.9 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Turkey plans to invest $12 billion in coal industry of the country, Anadolu agency quotes Energy and Natural Resources Minister of Turkey, Taner Yildiz as saying on Tuesday.
Investments within the project will be made for more efficient use of a coal deposit in the Afsin district in Turkish Elbistan city.
According to Yildiz, the extracted coal will be used for electricity production. Thus, the use of coal in electricity generation will allow reducing import of natural gas by $1.2 billion.
During the period from January to July 2012 electricity generation in Turkey increased by 8.1 percent compared to the same period in 2011, and amounted to 141.4 billion kilowatt hours.
Imports of electricity into Turkey over seven months amounted to 2.9 billion kilowatt hours.
Power consumption for the reporting period increased by 8.2 percent compared to the same period in 2011, amounting to 144 billion kilowatt hours.