Turkey banks on renewables in power plan for 2028

Unsplash/Anna Jiménez Calaf

• Electricity capacity to rise 27% by 2028
• Renewable resources to provide 50% of electricity production 
• Natural gas to supply 15% of electricity output

Half of Turkey’s proposed new installed electricity capacity will come from renewables, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said in a post on the social messaging site X, formerly Twitter.

The country’s capacity is planned to rise 27 percent to 136,000 megawatts (MW) by 2028.

Electrical energy demand will hit 430 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2028. Wind energy installed power will reach 18,000 MW, while solar energy installed power will stand at 30,000 MW.

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The amount of electrical energy produced from domestic resources is expected to be 270 TWh, while the share of renewable resources in electricity production will be 50 percent.

The proportion of natural gas used in electricity production will be 15 percent.

The government will also increase underground natural gas storage capacity to 13 billion cubic meters in 2028, while battery storage capacity will be raised to 5,000 MW.

In May, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğan inaugurated Europe’s biggest solar power plant built on a single site.

The $1 billion plant in the central province of Konya, developed by Kalyon Energy, an affiliate of Kalyon Holding, has an installed capacity of 1,350 MW, the Daily Sabah newspaper reported.

More than 3.2 million solar panels generate three million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which will power two million homes and prevent $450 million of fossil fuel equivalent resources being used.