Hıdırbeyli sits on top of a big source of geothermal energy. There are several geothermal power stations in the area, taking advantage of hot-water aquifers deep below the surface. And in some places the steam comes right up through the ground.
About 1.5km from our place, as you drive up into the hills, there’s a lake. Or maybe I should call it a reservoir, really: it was formed by damming a stream that comes down from the mountains. It makes a good place for picnic, anyway.
Lake in the hills behind us
Beyond the lake you can find several hot springs on the side of the road, or even just places where hot steam seeps up through mud or sand. It’s not quite as spectacular as Rotorua or Yellowstone, but still pretty amazing.
Hot springs: the water in there is close to boiling
Steam coming up through soft, sandy ground
We don’t know whether we’ll be able to use any of this geothermal power ourselves, but there’s talk in the village that the hot water runoff from a new power station will be available for local heating. It would be fantastic to have our winter heating needs taken care of by the rocks under our feet, but we’ll have to wait and see.
You could also maybe think of using hot water in the winter for aquaculture or heating greenhouses. Lots of great systems like that attached to powerstations in the Netherlands, Denmark etc…. How much light will you get during the winter months?
Thanks, Alex. Good ideas. There’s a lot you could do with a nearly-free supply of hot water.
Winter is not too bad in that part of Turkey. The coldest month is January with an overall average of 8°C. Winter solstice we still get 9 hours 32 minutes of daylight, compared to 7h55m in Southampton. There would be some cloud cover though: almost all the rain falls in the colder months.
Mar loves the hot springs!
I’m glad. They are a great thing to have around. When we visit, we have to make sure your children are prevented from leaping in as I think the water is close to boiling!