Wind and solar save Türkiye $12 bln in energy imports last year

ISTANBUL

Electricity generated from solar and wind energy helped save $12 billion in energy imports last year, according to Halil Demirdağ, board chairman of the Solar Energy Industrialists and Industry Association (GENSED).

Speaking at an event in Ankara, Demirdağ said that the government will allocate 520 billion Turkish Liras from this year's budget to subsidize imported energy resources.

“The largest portion of this comes from subsidizing imported natural gas for electricity generation. We import natural gas, subsidize it, use it in electricity generation and sell it,” he added.

Stating that electricity produced from solar and wind energy saved $12 billion in energy imports, Demirbağ said: “With energy storage systems, we have reached a stage where we can generate electricity at a much lower cost than energy produced from imported natural gas. Storage systems will become significantly important." 

By the end of May 2025, the installed capacity of Türkiye reached 119,271 MW.

Hydraulic power, natural gas and coal accounted for 27.1 percent, 20.6 percent and 18.4 percent of the installed capacity, respectively, according to the numbers from the Energy Ministry.

The shares of wind and solar in total installed capacity were 11.2 percent and 19 percent, respectively, with geothermal making up another 1.5 percent.

As of the end of 2025, there were 381 wind and 34,010 solar electricity generation plants in Türkiye, the ministry data showed.