Giant Investment in Energy

Mass Opening Ceremony

A Mass Opening Ceremony for Renewable Energy Investments for 2024 was held at Beştepe Congress and Culture Center. The ceremony was attended by President Erdoğan, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar and many guests.

We Compete with Ourselves

In his speech at the ceremony, President Erdoğan reminded that he attended the Istanbul Natural Resources Summit last week and said: “It is stated by everyone that our country has gained a different momentum in the field of energy. As Türkiye, we are in a race with ourselves in energy.”

A Matter of Survival

Noting that energy supply security has become one of the most important issues of all states, no matter how big or small, President Erdoğan said, “Security of supply, energy diplomacy, resource diversity have started to be seen not only as technical issues but also as issues directly related to national security. Ensuring energy supply security has become a matter of survival for almost every state.”

A Drop of Oil

Erdoğan said that the escalating tensions in many parts of the world, from Africa to Asia, from the Middle East to Latin America, cannot be read independently of the race for energy, and added: “The mentality that sees a drop of oil as more valuable than the blood of human beings has not changed and will never change. They will continue to feed on the blood of the oppressed for their own comfort.”

From Success to Success

Explaining that they see energy not as an element of competition but as a matter of cooperation where interests will be reconciled, and that they aspire to win together, not to exploit, Erdoğan said, “The energy sector is one of the most important areas in which we have led our country from success to success. We have made serious investments in every field of energy. With the discoveries in the Black Sea and Gabar, we changed our fate. With Akkuyu NPP, we elevated our country to a different league.” 

Reducing Imports

Erdoğan noted that Türkiye's energy needs tripled in 20 years and that the demand for electricity will increase by 50 percent by 2035, adding, “The share of imported resources in our energy supply is 70 percent. We have an energy-related import bill of around 60-100 billion dollars. Our goal is to lighten our energy bill by reducing these imports, and ultimately to make Türkiye a net exporter of resources and technology.”

120 Thousand Megawatt Target

Pointing out that renewable energy is one of the most important pillars to reach the 2053 net zero emission target, Erdoğan said, “We rank 5th in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of installed capacity. As of March 2025, our installed capacity reached 118 thousand 185 megawatts. 60 percent of this consists of renewable resources. We aim to increase our solar and wind installed capacity to 120 thousand megawatts by 2035. We will invest 80 billion dollars for this purpose. We are building green transmission infrastructure. By 2035, we aim to create 5 thousand megawatts of offshore wind capacity.” 

35 Thousand Megawatts of Installed Capacity

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Bayraktar stated that Türkiye has a great potential in renewable energy and said, “We have increased our wind and solar installed capacity from zero to over 35 thousand megawatts in the last 23 years. With our wind and solar energy production, we have become able to meet the annual electricity needs of all households in our country.”

Basic Not Exception

Emphasizing that renewable energy is not an exceptional resource but one of the cornerstones of the system, Minister Bayraktar said, “With the renewable energy resource areas model we call YEKA, we have introduced the obligation to use domestic equipment, domestic panels and turbines along with capacity allocation to investors in solar and wind.”

120 Thousand Megawatt Target

Bayraktar reminded that President Erdoğan set a target of 120 thousand megawatts of installed capacity in wind and solar power in 2035 and said, “Until 2035, we will reach the target of 120 thousand megawatts of installed capacity with YEKA competitions of at least 2 thousand megawatts every year, especially the power plants to be established by our industrialists, commercial establishments, tourism facilities for their own needs, storage solar, wind and rooftop SPP applications and offshore offshore wind projects.”

New Competitions Coming

Explaining that they aim to organize a new YEKA competition with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts, consisting of solar projects in October and wind projects in November, Bayraktar said, “It is essential that we have a strong transmission and distribution infrastructure in order to manage this increase in production in a healthy manner. Last week's power outages in continental Europe, which paralyzed the lives of approximately 60 million people, once again demonstrated the importance of a balanced generation portfolio.”

Live Connection with 5 Cities

Following the speeches, live connections were made to energy investments in 5 different cities. Following ARB WPP in Bursa, Yelen-Gülpınar WPP in Çanakkale, NG Kütahya SPP in Kütahya, Eksim WPP in Sakarya and Yeşilyurt SPP in Şanlıurfa, all energy facilities were inaugurated collectively.

98 percent Renewable Energy

With the ceremony, 6 thousand 182 electricity generation plants in 81 provinces were officially commissioned in 2024. While the total investment value of the power plants was approximately 5 billion dollars, 6 thousand 818 megawatts were added to the installed capacity. Renewable energy plants accounted for 98 percent of the power plants. 

Equivalent of 1.3 Billion Dollars

The annual generation capacity of the investments was 23.8 terawatt-hours, while the monetary equivalent of the natural gas that would have been imported if the electricity generated was met from natural gas was calculated as 1.3 billion dollars. The investments prevented the emission of 12 and a half million tons of carbon dioxide annually.