Turkey seeks World Bank funds to upgrade power grid

Alamy via Reuters

• $28bn transmission plan
• Quadrupling renewables
• Public and private split

Turkey is in talks with the World Bank to access funding to strengthen and extend the country’s energy transmission grid, part of broader plans to quadruple renewable energy generation capacity and transition away from fossil fuel dependency. 

World Bank country director for Turkey Humberto Lopez said the international lender will work with Ankara to unlock funding to strengthen Turkey’s transmission backbone.

“What we are discussing with the Ministry of Energy is what can be done to extract or appropriate financing for a plan on transmission that will need around $28 billion,” Lopez told state news agency Anadolu while attending a renewable energy conference in Istanbul last week.

In October, energy and natural resources minister Alparslan Bayraktar outlined Turkey’s medium-term energy programme, with plans to increase renewables output from the present level of 30 gigawatts to 120 GW by 2035 through investments of $80 billion. The scheme also includes an additional $30 billion spend on improving transmission capability and infrastructure. 

With the planned massive scaling-up of power generation capacity, Turkey’s transmission grid will require a significant upgrade to carry the additional load and expand the reach of the network. 

Mahir Ulutaş, the chairman of the board of directors of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers, said the funding would be more than sufficient to modernise the network, although work needs to be done to overhaul the distribution grid – the connection from the network to consumers – which is operated by the private sector. 

“In power there are three key-phases: production, transmission and distribution,” he told AGBI. “Turkey’s transmission is carried out by state company TEIAŞ and is better maintained and we have less problems there. 

“However, when it comes to the distribution side of things in Turkey we need modernisation and investment in infrastructure.”

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The reinforced transmission network could also support Turkish plans to become a power exporter, building on existing international grid connections and allowing for new lines of supply. 

In July, Turkey began transmissions via a 300 megawatt capacity link to Northern Iraq, with Turkish-generated electricity feeding into the Iraqi grid connecting three provinces. 

The Turkish and Greek power grids are already connected by a single link. A memorandum of understanding was signed at the end of 2023 to build a second connection, with a 600 MW capacity, to be operational in 2029, allowing for two-way transmissions. 

Ankara and Tehran have also set in motion plans to connect the two countries, with agreement reached in February to operate a 600 MW capacity cross-border exchange line between Van in Turkey’s east and Khoi in the far west of Iran.