Turkish wind power industry passes major threshold – statistics update

Turkey, the world’s number 12 in wind power production, reached 10 GW in capacity. The sector’s share of electricity output so far this year was 9%.

Turkish Electricity Transmission Corp. (TEİAŞ) announced that the country’s wind power plants reached a record combined capacity of 10 GW this month. It compares to just 364 MW registered in 2008 and almost 8.1 GW at the end of 2019.

The latest comprehensive report, with data as of the end of July, showed Turkey’s total power capacity was 98.8 GW. Wind had a share of 10%, or 19.3% of all electricity from renewable sources. On a national scale, output from wind turbines came in at 9% from January to July.

Turkey is among world’s biggest producers of wind power, turbines

The country is the world’s 12th biggest wind power producer, but it is also in the top ten in equipment manufacturing, covering most of the parts for wind generators. The localization rate in domestic wind power plants is between 60% and 65%, according to estimates.

İzmir province had the largest wind capacity at the end of July – 1.7 GW. Neighboring Balıkesir followed with 1.3 GW. Just north of it is Çanakkale, also on the Aegean coast, with 850 MW. Manisa, bordering both İzmir and Balıkesir, held the fourth place with 750 MW. Istanbul, Turkey’s most populous city, was also among the top wind power producers, as it had 420 MW in installed capacity.

Largest wind farm is Polat’s Soma, with 312 MW

As for companies, Borusan EnBW led with wind power plants of a combined 660 MW, trailed by Demirer Energy with 614 MW. Güriş Energy was third with 588 MW. Polat Energy, holding the fifth place with 559 MW, owns the biggest wind farm in Turkey. The Soma facility, with a capacity of 312 MW, is in the provinces of Manisa and Balıkesir in western Turkey. Enercon supplied the turbines.

PSP Investments and French company EDF Renewables (formerly EDF Énergies Nouvelles) own 45% each while Adnan Polat’s Batiyel Enerji has the remaining 10% in Polat Energy.

The latest data show 3,580 companies were active in the wind energy industry, with 25,000 people directly or indirectly employed.

Hydropower plants had a share of 25.6% in Turkey’s electricity generation last year, compared to 22.7% held by the systems that use natural gas and 34.8% for coal.