Türkiye's electricity installed capacity has increased by more than threefold in the past two decades, while renewable energy share has reached approximately 55% of the existing installed capacity, Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Abdullah Tancan said Wednesday.
"Electricity installed capacity, which was 31,846 megawatts (MW) in 2002, has increased 3.3 times to reach 105,135 MW by the end of July," said Tancan at the opening of the 16th EIF Energy Congress and Fair held in the southern province of Gaziantep.
Looking at electricity production, Tancan noted that electricity production had reached 326 billion kilowatts (kW) by the end of last year, and Türkiye ranks 5th in renewable energy installed capacity in Europe and 12th globally.
He also highlighted the country's position in equipment production, saying: "We are currently ranked 13th globally and 6th in Europe in equipment production. We have made significant progress in installed capacity and production of renewable sources over the past 21 years, with electricity installed capacity increasing 3.3 times from 31,846 megawatts in 2002 to 105,135 megawatts by the end of July."
"We have increased the share of renewable energy in electricity production to 42%. Currently, our country has approximately 10,398 MW of solar installed capacity, with 10,169 solar energy production facilities," he noted.
Pointing out that there are significant goals regarding solar energy in the National Energy Plan, Tancan said: "By 2035, we aim to add an average of 3.5 gigawatts per year, with 52 gigawatts out of 189 gigawatts of installed capacity being derived from solar energy sources."
"Solar energy will be one of the fundamental components of energy in the near future and will continue to grow. Additionally, producing local products has become important. In the fields of wind and solar, many equipment items are now being produced in Türkiye, with the localization rate of panels reaching up to 80%," he added.
Kutay Kaleli, head of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) Türkiye Section (GÜNDER) for his part, noted that 150,000 people are directly employed in the solar energy sector, stating that panel factories with a production capacity of approximately 30,000 megawatts have been established in Türkiye.
"With all the investments made in solar energy, we have become the 3rd largest panel-producing country in the world. We opened the 5th EVA factory, which is important in solar technology," Kaleli said.
Çiğdem Dilek, chairperson of the EIF Congress Executive Board, stated that recent technological developments have taken a more prominent place in Türkiye's energy agenda.
She emphasized that self-consumption and distributed energy are at the forefront of investors' agendas and said: "In Türkiye, legislation work on topics such as hydrogen and charging stations is on the agenda and progressing rapidly. We will continue to see new technological developments."
"If an energy picture of Türkiye were to be taken, sector representatives would need to come to EIF. By organizing these events in cities where investors and equipment productions are located, we create new opportunities. That's why we organized EIF in Gaziantep. We have also received invitations to organize this event from Malatya, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa," Dilek explained.