Is it too late to stop Turkey's coal rush?

Turkey may soon have the world's biggest coal-fired plant - one of 80 new plants planned as part of the country's coal boom - but resistance is growing and many point to huge solar potential being overlooked

• In pictures: The frontline of Turkey's new coal boom

The smell is sharp and smoky, with a metallic tinge, and very, very strong. "That," says YAldArAm Biiici, "is the smell of coal".

The tea-shop owner's home is just a couple of hundred metres from a huge, ageing coal-fired power plant in central Turkey, whose red-and-white chimneys spew dirty fumes. Biiici has lived amid the smoke for decades but now finds himself on the frontline of the nation's new coal rush: the AfAin-Elbistan station is planning to expand into the biggest coal-fired power plant in the world.