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Turkey is a founding member of the OECD and G20. The country's economy ranked as the 17th-largest in the world and 7th-largest in Europe by nominal GDP in 2024. It also ranked as the 12th-largest in the world and 5th-largest in Europe by PPP in 2024. The economy of Turkey is an emerging market, high income mixed economy. Turkey has often been defined as a newly industrialized country since the turn of the 21st century.
Wind power generates about 10% of Turkey's electricity, mainly in the west in the Aegean and Marmara regions, and is gradually becoming a larger share of renewable energy in the country. As of 2024, Turkey has 12 gigawatts (GW) of wind turbines. The Energy Ministry plans to have almost 30 GW by 2035, including 5 GW offshore.
The Turkish construction and contracting industry is one of the key sectors of Turkey's economy.
Turkey’s sunny climate possesses a high solar energy potential, specifically in the South Eastern Anatolia and Mediterranean regions. Solar power is a growing part of renewable energy in the country, with 19 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels generating 6% of the country's electricity. Solar thermal is also important.
Currently, Turkey has no operating commercial nuclear reactors. However, four VVER-1200 reactors at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, are currently under construction and expected to come online in 2025. The government is aiming for 20 GW of nuclear.
The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is a large nuclear power plant in Turkey under construction in Akkuyu, Büyükeceli, Mersin Province. It is expected to generate around 10% of the country's electricity when completed. The official launch ceremony took place in April 2015.
Energy consumption per person in Turkey is similar to the world average, and over 85 per cent is from fossil fuels. From 1990 to 2017 annual primary energy supply tripled, but then remained constant to 2019. In 2019, Turkey's primary energy supply included around 30 per cent oil, 30 per cent coal, and 25 per cent gas. These fossil fuels contribute to Turkey's air pollution and its above average greenhouse gas emissions. Turkey mines its own lignite but imports three-quarters of its energy, including half the coal and almost all the oil and gas it requires, and its energy policy prioritises reducing imports.
The Electricity Generation Company is the largest electric power company in Turkey. Owned by the government, it produces and trades electricity throughout the country.
Kışlaköy Coal Mine or Afşin Elbistan Mine is a lignite mine in Elbistan coalfield. The largest operating lignite mine in Turkey, it is open pit and can produce 7 million tonnes a year, which feeds the Afşin-Elbistan power stations.
Renewables supply a quarter of energy in Turkey, including heat and electricity. Some houses have rooftop solar water heating, and hot water from underground warms many spas and greenhouses. In parts of the west hot rocks are shallow enough to generate electricity as well as heat. Wind turbines, also mainly near western cities and industry, generate a tenth of Turkey’s electricity. Hydropower, mostly from dams in the east, is the only modern renewable energy which is fully exploited. Hydropower averages about a fifth of the country's electricity, but much less in drought years. Apart from wind and hydro, other renewables; such as geothermal, solar and biogas; together generated almost a tenth of Turkey’s electricity in 2022. Over half the installed capacity for electricity generation is renewables.
Turkey uses more electricity per person than the global average, but less than the European average, with demand peaking in summer due to air conditioning. Most electricity is generated from coal, gas and hydropower, with hydroelectricity from the east transmitted to big cities in the west. Electricity prices are state-controlled, but wholesale prices are heavily influenced by the cost of imported gas.
The Syrian Salvation Government was a de facto unrecognized quasi-state in Syria formed in November 2017 by Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other Syrian opposition groups during the Syrian civil war. It controlled much of northwest Syria, and had an estimated population of over 4,000,000 in 2023. Its de facto capital was Idlib.
Coal, cars and lorries vent more than a third of Turkey's five hundred million tonnes of annual greenhouse gas emissions. They are mostly carbon dioxide and part of the cause of climate change in Turkey. A quarter of the emissions are from electricity generation.
Coal supplies a quarter of Turkey's primary energy. The heavily subsidised coal industry generates over a third of the country's electricity and emits a third of Turkey's greenhouse gases.
The Afşin-Elbistan power stations are two coal-fired power stations in Turkey, in Afşin District in Kahramanmaraş Province. Both Afşin-Elbistan A, built in the 1980s, and the newer Afşin-Elbistan B burn lignite from the nearby Elbistan coalfield.
Çayırhan power station is a 620 MW operational coal fired power station in Turkey in Ankara Province. In 2019 land was expropriated for another lignite mine, to feed the a proposed extension, which was opposed as uneconomic and eventually had its licence revoked.
The Turkish Coal Operations Authority (TKİ) is the state-owned enterprise which mines lignite coal in Turkey. Turkey is the third-largest lignite producer in the world, with 7% of total production. In 2018 TKI mined 30 Mt of which 16 Mt was open pit and 14 Mt underground: and in the same year 20 Mt was sold, 12.6 Mt to power plants and 7.4 Mt to industry and households. TKİ is on the Global Coal Exit List compiled by the NGO Urgewald . It employs about 4000 people.
Coal in Turkey generated a third of the nation's electricity in 2023. There are 55 active coal-fired power stations with a total capacity of 21 gigawatts (GW). In 2023 coal imports for electricity generation cost 3.7 billion USD.
Alparslan Bayraktar is a Turkish academic, engineer and politician who has served as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources since 2023. Before his appointment as minister, Bayraktar held several positions within the ministry, including Deputy Minister and Commissioner of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority.
References
- ↑ "SHURA Energy Transition Center - MLGP4Climate". mlgp4climate.com. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ↑ "Enerji sektöründe dijital dönüşüm". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). 2022-11-30. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ↑ "Türkiye'nin Enerji Dönüşümü Görünümü 2023 Raporu: Enerjide hedefler eyleme dönüşsün". Hurriyet (in Turkish). 2024-04-23. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ↑ "SHURA Energy Transition Center honored for their clean energy leadership in Turkey". Crux Alliance. 2024-03-15. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ↑ "About". ipc.sabanciuniv.edu. Archived from the original on 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ↑ "The SHURA Energy Transition Center was Launched: "We Will Support the Transition to Low-Carbon Power Systems"". Sivil Sayfalar (in Turkish). 2018-05-30. Retrieved 2024-12-13.