Solar and wind near a fifth of Türkiye’s power in 2024

Ankara, March 19th – Türkiye’s wind and solar generation provided a record 18% of electricity generation in 2024, reveals new analysis from global energy think tank Ember.

Until the 2010s, Türkiye generated almost all power from coal, gas and hydro. Wind power started to grow from 2010, reaching 11% of Türkiye’s power in 2024. Solar power has increased rapidly in the past few years, with a record year-on-year jump of 39% (+7.3 TWh) in 2024 amid strong capacity installations. This pushed solar to a 7.5% share of Turkish power last year, up from just 2.2% in 2018.

Türkiye’s solar growth is part of a boom across Europe

Despite Türkiye’s recent solar expansion, other European countries have seen an even more rapid increase in solar. Romania doubled its solar share from 3.9% in 2023 to 7.8% in 2024. In southern Europe, countries with similar solar potential as Türkiye such as Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal, solar power accounts for 14% to 22% of the total electricity generation. Poland generated 9% of electricity from solar in 2024, despite having lower solar potential than Türkiye.

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Türkiye remains more coal dependent than European neighbours

Coal still generates more than a third of Turkish electricity, with 36% in 2024, compared to 10% of electricity in the EU. As coal continues to decline in Europe, even in historic coal generators such as Germany and Poland, Türkiye became the European country that generates the most electricity from coal in 2024. Türkiye’s coal-fired electricity generation was 122 TWh in 2024, compared to 104 TWh in Germany and 91 TWh in Poland.

Türkiye’s 2035 wind and solar targets can cut fossil fuel imports

Türkiye is very dependent on foreign sources for fossil fuel generation: 61% of coal power is from imports, as is 96% of gas consumption across all sectors. With hydro increasingly affected by drought, annual shortfalls in poor hydro years will be met with imported gas.

However, Türkiye’s recently announced 2035 installed capacity targets aim to quadruple the country’s current wind and solar capacity. Ember’s analysis finds that if targets are achieved, the share of wind and solar could rise to 49% by 2035 while fossil power generation could drop to below 20%, reducing Türkiye’s import dependence.

As solar sweeps across Europe, Türkiye is seeing the same remarkable increase. Solar and wind are becoming an increasingly crucial part of Türkiye’s energy security. If they can be rapidly scaled up in line with targets, they’ll offer a valuable complement to hydro in drought years and displace costly fossil fuel imports.

Ufuk Alparslan
‍Regional lead, Ember

About Ember

Ember is an independent energy think tank that aims to accelerate the clean energy transition with data and policy. It creates targeted data insights to advance policies that urgently shift the world to a clean, electrified energy future.

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