ISTANBUL
Türkiye is preparing for a major push for renewable investments next year as the country works hard to reduce its dependency on imported energy.
The annual program of the Turkish Presidency sets a target of increasing renewables’ share in total installed capacity, which is expected to reach 122,289 megawatts next year to 61.2 percent in 2025.
As its economy expands, the demand for energy grows, which makes energy security and sustainability a priority for the government.
While energy sector policies are designed in line with the net zero emission target, the vast majority of clean energy investments are planned in renewable energy and energy efficiency as well as grid and storage.
The share of renewable energy installed capacity is projected to increase to 61.2 percent in 2025 with 74, 887 megawatts of the total installed capacity coming from hydroelectric, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and waste heat power plants.
The country’s installed electricity capacity stood at 114,305 megawatts as of Oct. 29, while the installed renewable energy capacity was 67,513 megawatts.
Within the scope of the Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA) model, tenders for 3,000 megawatts of solar and 2,850 megawatts of wind power plants (WPP)have been completed so far.
Power plant installations have started within the scope of YEKA WPP-2 and YEKA WPP-4 with a total of 1,000 megawatts and 1,000 megawatts, respectively. YEKA WPP-4 is planned to be commissioned by the end of this year and YEKA WPP-2 by the end of 2025.
The government also aims to accelerate work for the energy transformation at buildings.
As part of those efforts, feasibility studies will be carried out for installing solar power plants (SPP) with a total installed capacity of 163 megawatts in 343 public institutions to meet 25 percent of their annual electricity consumption.
In addition, construction tenders will be launched for the installation of SPPs in public buildings in nine of the country’s 81 provinces.
Meanwhile, The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) announced last week that it approved a $70 million investment plan for Türkiye to boost the country’s power transmission system while advancing the country’s green goals.
The fund aims to mobilize an additional $1 billion in climate finance while contributing to the green expansion of Türkiye’s energy system through a $70 million injection of concessional finance, ultimately helping the country achieve one of the most ambitious clean energy scale-ups in the world.