Turkey's Renewable Push Cuts Energy Dependency
Turkey has significantly reduced its energy dependency from 90% to 70% through major investments in wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal power. The country now ranks in the top six in Europe for renewable capacity expansion, with experts seeing hybrid plants and energy storage as key to pushing dependency below 50%.
Turkey's National Energy Plan aims to increase the share of renewable energy in primary energy consumption to 23.7% by 2035. The country is targeting a quadrupling of its wind and solar capacity to 120 GW by that same year, a significant jump from the 32 GW recorded in 2024. This ambitious expansion is critical to meet a projected 54% increase in electricity demand by 2030. As of late 2024, Turkey's installed capacity was a mix of 28% hydraulic, 21.4% natural gas, 18.9% coal, 16.7% solar, and 10.8% wind. Despite impressive growth in renewables, the country still heavily relies on imported fossil fuels, with 93% of its oil and 99% of its gas imported. Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran are the primary suppliers of natural gas. To support this green transition, Turkey plans to invest $28 billion over the next decade to upgrade its electricity grid, which includes building 14,700 kilometers of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines. The government is also promoting private sector investment through annual tenders for new wind and solar capacity under its Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA) system. These initiatives are crucial for integrating intermittent renewable sources and enhancing grid reliability. The solar sector has seen particularly rapid growth, with installed capacity doubling in just 2.5 years to over 19 GW by the end of 2024, surpassing the 2025 target ahead of schedule. This surge is largely driven by self-consumption projects. In fact, building new solar plants is now Turkey's cheapest method of electricity generation, with a lifetime cost that has dropped by 69%. On the venture capital front, between 2018 and 2022, $651 million was invested in 148 climatetech startups in the MENA and Turkey region, with Turkey accounting for the highest number of deals at 80. However, these have predominantly been small, seed-stage investments. Venture funds like Diffusion Capital Partners and Sabancı Ventures are key players focusing on deeptech and climatetech opportunities. Turkey is also home to a growing number of companies manufacturing photovoltaic modules, with a total capacity exceeding 40 GW. This domestic manufacturing capability is a strategic asset for reducing reliance on international supply chains and enhancing energy security. The country is also exploring hybrid power plants and energy storage solutions, with a pipeline of 33 GW in pre-licensed storage-integrated solar and wind projects. This far exceeds the official 2030 target of 2.1 GW for battery storage, indicating a strong market orientation towards solving the intermittency of renewables. Despite this progress, challenges remain. The industrial sector's electricity consumption has decreased, partly due to a slowdown in activity, and the country became Europe's second-largest producer of coal-fired electricity in 2023. A significant portion of this coal is imported, highlighting the complex energy landscape Turkey is navigating.
