Coal

Carbonization; is the process of alteration of plants. Peat, lignite, sub-bituminous coal, bituminous coal (hard coal), anthracite and graphite are formed by turning into each other.
Coal; It is used in electricity production, heating, iron-steel and cement industry and other fields of industry.
Coal ranked second after oil with a share of 27,2% in world primary energy consumption in 2020. In the world electricity production, it ranked first with a share of 35,1%.
According to BP 2021 data, as of the end of 2020, the total anthracite and bituminous coals, sub-bituminous coals and lignite reserves in the world are 1,07 trillion tons, of which 753,6 billion tons (70%) is anthracite and bituminous coal (hard coal), 320,5 billion tons (30%) are sub-bituminous coals and lignite.

The largest part of the world's anthracite and bituminous coal reserves is located in the USA with a share of 29,1% (218.94 billion tons). China with 17,9% share (135,07 billion tons), India with 14,1% (105,98 billion tons), Australia with 9,8% (73,72 billion tons), 9,5% Russia (71,72 billion tons) follows the USA. The largest part of the world's sub-bituminous coal and lignite reserves is located in the Russian Federation with a share of 28,2% (90,45 billion tons). Australia with 23,9% (76,51 billion tons), Germany with 11,2% (35,90 billion tons), USA with 9,4% (30,00 billion tons), 3,7% Indonesia (11,73 billion tons) and Türkiye with 3,4% (10,98 billion tons) follow Russia.

Türkiye’s total coal resource is approximately 20,84 billion tons, with 19,32 billion tons of lignite and asphaltite (92,7%) and 1,52 billion tons of hard coal (7,3%).The lower calorific value of Türkiye's Hard Coal varies between 6.200 - 7.250 kcal/kg. Although the heating values of our lignite source vary between 1.000 kcal/kg and 4.200 kcal/kg, approximately 79% of them have a lower heating value below 2.500 kcal/kg.

According to BP 2021 data, a total of 7,74 billion tons of coal was produced in the world in 2020, and China ranked first with a production of 3,9 billion tons (50,4%).

According to Enerdata 2021 data, a total of 7,31 billion tons of coal was consumed in the world in 2020, and China ranked first with a consumption of 3,8 billion tons (52,4%).

According to TUIK data, Türkiye’s salable coal production in 2021; 72.82 million tons of lignite and asphaltite, 1.24 million tons of hard coal, totaling 74.06 million tons.


116,7 million tons of coal (37,3 million tons of hard coal + 73,6 million tons of lignite and asphaltite + 5,8 million tons of hard coal coke) was consumed in Türkiye in 2021. The largest share in the consumption of hard coal, lignite and asphaltite belonged to thermal power plants with 52,9% and 81,7%, respectively.

Türkiye's average coal (hard coal, hard coal coke, lignite and asphaltite) consumption between 2016-2021 was approximately 110 million tons.

In Türkiye, in 2020, a total of 106.269,1 GWh electricity was produced from coal-fired power plants, with 43.802,6 GWh from domestic coal-fired (lignite+asphaltite+hard coal) power plants and 62.466,5 GWh from imported coal-based power plants. In 2020, the share of electricity produced from coal-based power plants in total electricity production was 34,8%, while the share of domestic coal (lignite + hard coal + asphaltite) was 14,3%.

As of March 2022, in Türkiye; There are a total of 67 coal-fired power plants, including 1 asphaltite, 47 lignite, 4 hard coal and 15 imported coal-fired power plants.
As of March 2022, Türkiye's coal-based power plant installed power corresponds to 20,4% of the total installed power. The ratio of the domestic coal-based installed power to the total installed power was 11,4%.

Date of Update: 07 June 2022
The details presented here have been prepared with the aim of informing the users of the website of our Ministry, and do not possess the characteristics of official binding documents.
Belge & Dosyalar