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By News Center

The capacity growth Türkiye has achieved in solar and wind energy over the past decade has made a significant contribution to replacing fossil fuels in electricity generation. According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, a total of 442.2 terawatt-hours of electricity was generated from solar and wind sources between 2015 and 2025. This generation prevented the need for $21.5 billion in coal imports that would have been required if the same amount of electricity had been generated using imported coal. Thus, renewable energy sources contributed not only to electricity generation but also to reducing energy imports.

If the 442.2 terawatt-hours of electricity had instead been generated by natural gas-fired power plants, $43.3 billion worth of natural gas imports would have been required. The increase in solar- and wind-based generation has helped reduce the need for imported fossil fuels to meet electricity demand. The growth in renewable energy investments has also been important for Türkiye’s goals of strengthening energy supply security and reducing external dependence. As the share of solar and wind in electricity generation has increased, progress has also been made in reducing emissions resulting from fossil fuel consumption.

The 442.2 terawatt-hours of electricity generated from solar and wind during the 2015-2025 period replaced electricity generation from fossil fuels. Assuming that this generation replaced electricity produced from imported coal, approximately 354 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions were avoided. If the same amount of generation had replaced natural gas-based electricity production, calculations showed that approximately 177 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions were prevented.

In 2015, Türkiye generated a total of 11,847 gigawatt-hours of electricity from solar and wind. This generation replaced approximately $300 million worth of imported coal and prevented 9.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Over the following 10 years, the increase in electricity generation from solar and wind was accompanied by a rise in fossil fuel substitution and the resulting reduction in emissions. The total generation reaching 442.2 terawatt-hours demonstrated that the share of renewable energy sources in Türkiye’s electricity supply has increased each year.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar assessed Türkiye’s renewable energy targets in a post marking World Zero Emissions Day on September 21. Bayraktar said renewable resources were being utilized to the fullest extent in line with Türkiye’s goals of achieving Net Zero Emissions by 2053 and full energy independence.

Bayraktar said Türkiye had risen to fifth place in Europe and 11th place globally in renewable energy, adding that the country aims to increase its renewable energy potential to 120,000 megawatts of installed capacity by 2035.