As Türkiye commemorates its centenary, it also celebrates a significant milestone: Its installed electricity capacity has surged to 105,659 megawatts (MW) as of October this year, propelled by robust energy investments spanning a century.
In 1923, the capacity was a mere 33 MW, before soaring to 78 MW in 1930 and gradually climbing to 217 MW in 1940, 407 MW in 1950, 1,271 MW in 1960, and 2,234 MW in 1970.
The southwestern province of Denizli hosts Türkiye's inaugural geothermal power plant, established in 1974. Following suit, the first wind power plant was built in Izmir, a major city on the Aegean coast, in 1998; while the inaugural solar power plant illuminated Istanbul in 2011.
Türkiye's first hydroelectric power plant, the Tarsus Hydroelectric Power Plant, initiated operations in 1902 in Mersin province, boasting a capacity of 60 kilowatts.
It was followed by the Işıklar Hydroelectric Power Plant, which emerged in 1929 in Trabzon, located in the Black Sea coast of northeast Türkiye.
The inaugural coal-fired thermal power plant was established in Istanbul in 1914. The Çatalağzı Thermal Power Plant followed suit in 1948 in Zonguldak, within the Black Sea region.
The first natural gas combined cycle power plant was the Hamitabat Natural Gas Combined Cycle Power Plant, established in 1985 in Luleburgaz, Kırklareli, a city in the European part of Türkiye.
Power plants exceeded 12,000
Türkiye has been actively embracing renewable energy sources and has installed various power plants to curb its dependency on energy imports.
As of October this year, the country boasts 10,479 solar energy power plants, 752 hydroelectric plants, 384 biomass plants, 363 wind farms, 95 waste heat plants, and 63 geothermal energy power plants.
Additionally, Türkiye has 343 natural gas power plants, and the number of power plants fueled by imported coal, lignite, asphaltite, and hard coal stands at 68, bringing the total number of power plants to over 12,000 as of October 2023.
The installed power capacity of natural gas power plants has reached 25,354 MW, while the combined capacity of imported coal, lignite, asphaltite, and hard coal power plants amounts to 21,814 MW.
Furthermore, hydroelectric power plants contribute significantly with an installed capacity of 31,595 MW, followed by wind farms at 11,602 MW, solar plants at 10,899 MW, biomass and waste heat energy plants at 2,438 MW, and geothermal energy plants at 1,691 MW.
Thanks to these investments in the clean energy sector, Türkiye has achieved a remarkable milestone. It now ranks fifth in Europe and 12th in the world in terms of total installed renewable energy capacity.