Turkey’s wind energy capacity is expected to continue to grow strongly in coming years, underpinned by strong natural resources, growing energy demand and a policy priority of reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Expansion of renewables has come despite recurrent currency crises and high inflation complicating the financing of projects. Partially due to the economic backdrop, development of new wind capacity in Turkey has increasingly been dominated by large local conglomerates.
A major driver for the rollout of new projects in recent years has been the competitive auction system known as Yeka, the Turkish acronym for “renewable-energy designated area”. The Yeka tender system made its debut in wind energy in 2017 with the award of 1GW in capacity to a consortium composed of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) and local firms Kalyon Enerji and Türkerler Holding.
Turkey has developed a strong local supply chain to produce blades and towers, given that tariffs secured by wind projects are higher when these components are manufactured locally. Siemens Gamesa also produces nacelles in Turkey as construction of a factory was one of the requirements for the inaugural Yeka tender.
All of Turkey’s wind capacity is on land, although a roadmap prepared by the Izmir Development Agency to promote offshore wind estimated the country’s total offshore wind potential at 70GW, of which about 80% is expected to use floating technology.
The government in 2018 abandoned plans for the country’s first offshore wind tender amid a lack of investor interest. The auction was seen as premature at the time given the lack of both a regulatory framework and data on potential offshore sites.
* The rating reflects our assessment of a country's policy support, investor confidence and grid conditions, alongside its project pipeline in “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç Intelligence, the research and data division of “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç. For our current estimate of individual countries' installed capacity, click on the link below.