Türkiye is forecast to see more than 60% growth in its renewable energy capacity in the next five years which will help it rank among the 10 biggest markets in the world, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday.

Fatih Birol’s remarks came as the IEA’s latest report said global renewable power capacity growth is set to double from 2022 through 2027, driven by energy security concerns in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Türkiye’s renewable energy capacity is forecast to grow by 64% to 90 gigawatts (GW) by 2027, the agency’s annual report on the outlook for renewables showed. Some 49% of the capacity growth is expected to stem from solar energy and 24% from wind energy.

"This growth makes Türkiye the fourth-biggest renewable market in Europe and the tenth globally. We expect almost 75% of this growth to come from solar and wind," Birol said.

After a hydropower capacity of around 31,600 megawatts (MW), wind is the second-biggest renewable source of electricity at 11,307 megawatts. Türkiye’s installed solar power reached 9,120 MW as of the end of October.

The IEA said capacity worldwide is expected to grow by 2,400 GW – equal to the entire power capacity of China today – to 5,640 GW by 2027.

The increase is 30% higher than the amount of growth forecast a year ago. High gas and power prices from a global energy crisis this year have made renewable power technologies more attractive.

This would help "keep alive the possibility of limiting global warming to 1.5 (degrees Celsius)," the IEA said, referring to the preferable target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement to prevent a climate catastrophe.

Growth in renewables is also being driven by the United States, China and India implementing policies and market reforms to support deploying renewables more quickly than previously planned.

The invasion of Ukraine by major oil and gas exporter Russia has triggered an energy crunch and prompted countries in Europe, which were highly dependent on Russian deliveries, to diversify their supplies.

"Renewables were already expanding quickly, but the global energy crisis has kicked them into an extraordinary new phase of even faster growth as countries seek to capitalize on their energy security benefits," Birol said.

"The world is set to add as much renewable power in the next five years as it did in the previous 20 years," he added.

"This is a clear example of how the current energy crisis can be a historic turning point towards a cleaner and more secure future world energy system."

The amount of renewable power capacity added in Europe between 2022 and 2027 is forecast to be twice as high as in the previous five-year period, the IEA said.

EU nations could deploy wind and solar power even faster if they were to quickly streamline the process for receiving permits, the report said.

China is expected to account for almost half of new global renewable power capacity additions in the next five years, the report said.

The report said renewables are set to account for over 90% of global electricity expansion over the next five years, overtaking coal to become the largest source of global electricity by early 2025.

Global solar photovoltaic capacity is set to almost triple by 2027, becoming the largest source of power capacity in the world, while wind capacity is set to almost double.

Meanwhile, biofuel demand is set to increase by 22% by 2027, the report said.