Villagers in the Black Sea Ereğli district of Zonguldak meet their electricity needs with solar panels installed on the roofs of their houses.
Within the scope of the Forest and Village Relations (ORKÖY) project prepared by the Zonguldak Regional Directorate of Forestry, solar panels were installed in 37 households with the drawing of lots in 2021 in the village of Bayat, which consists of 5 neighborhoods and 568 households.
With the project, it is aimed to reduce the expenses of the villagers by producing their own electricity, as well as to contribute to the economy and protection of the environment.
"This is a very important project"
Village headman Ahmet Eyrilmez told reporters that the rest of the project, 53 percent of which was state-sponsored, was covered by 37 households.
Pointing out that the project has been implemented for 3 years, Eyrilmez said, "This system produces more electricity than a household's electricity consumption in one month. Each household sells this electricity to electricity companies for a determined fee. After the sale, money is automatically deposited into their accounts every month. We produce electricity in our village, we do not pay bills and we earn money from the electricity produced. This is a very important project."
Eyrilmez thanked the Regional Directorate of Forestry and the Ereğli Forestry Management Directorate for their support, explaining that they made a request to increase the number of houses in the project and that they plan to realize this with new funds to come.
On the other hand, Zonguldak Governor Mustafa Tutulmaz, Ereğli District Governor Mehmet Yapıcı and Zonguldak Regional Director of Forestry Faruk Bayraktaroğlu went to the village and examined the project.