Researcher Büşra Zeynep Özdemir from the Political, Economic and Social Research Foundation (SETA) wrote about the strategic importance of expanding renewable energy capacity in Türkiye in terms of energy security, reducing foreign dependence and economic resilience.
The energy sector around the world is facing one of the toughest tests in its history amid disruptions in supply chains, geopolitical tensions and sharp fluctuations in fossil fuel prices. In particular, the bottleneck in the supply of oil and natural gas is causing countries to shift their energy policy from cost orientation to the axis of security of supply and independence. In such a crisis environment, the importance of countries benefiting more from domestic and renewable energy sources is reinforced. Türkiye is currently one of the most remarkable countries. The share of renewable resources in the installed electrical energy capacity and their increasing share in production provide Türkiye not only with an environmental advantage, but also with a significant advantage in terms of security of supply, macroeconomic stability and resilience to external shocks. Producing 19.5 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity from renewable sources in March 2026 and recording the highest renewable electricity production ever represents a strategic win for Türkiye in the current global energy crisis environment.
The increase in installed renewable energy capacity
To understand today's increase in production, one must look at the change in installed electricity capacity in Türkiye over the last 25 years. In 2002, Türkiye's total installed capacity was about 31,846 megawatts (MW); The share of renewable energy was 12,305 MW. By the end of 2025, the total installed capacity increased to 122,519 MW, while the total installed capacity from renewable resources reached 76,281 MW. This table shows that renewable energy sources are no longer complementary in Türkiye's electrical energy system, but have become one of the main elements of the system.
At the end of March 2026, Türkiye's installed electricity capacity was 125,078 MW. 25.9 percent of the installed capacity comes from hydropower, 21.2 percent from solar energy, 12 percent from wind power and 1.4 percent from geothermal energy. This distribution shows that the share of domestic and renewable resources in Türkiye's power generation infrastructure has increased significantly. Attention must be drawn to the increase in wind and solar energy; The installed solar energy capacity in Türkiye increased to 26,339 MW and the installed wind energy capacity increased to 15,066 MW in March 2026. This means that the share of wind and solar energy in total installed capacity reached 33 percent. This increase shows that new generation renewable capacity has been heavily added to more established renewable resources such as hydropower.
The impact of this transformation in installed capacity on production has become more visible, particularly in the first months of 2026. In March, Türkiye produced 19.46 billion kWh of electricity from renewable sources, the highest renewable electricity production ever. In the same month, two-thirds of total electricity production came from renewable sources. Hydroelectric power plants made the largest contribution to this production; 10.6 billion kWh of electricity were produced from hydroelectric power plants (HEPP), accounting for 35.4 percent of total electricity production.
This data is very important for Türkiye. Because HEPPs are not only part of the renewable production capacity, but also strategic assets that play a balancing role in the electricity system, can be activated in times of accelerated demand growth and can reduce the need for production based on imported fuels. In times of high HEPP production, the need for natural gas power plants decreases, which has a calming effect on the electricity production costs, energy import bills and the current account deficit. However, it should not be forgotten that HEPP production directly depends on the rainfall regime. This requires greater consideration of climate change and drought risks in energy planning. In other words, although increasing hydropower production represents a significant benefit for Türkiye, its transformation into a permanent energy security capacity depends on the support of wind, solar, storage and network investments.
Renewable energy as a strategic instrument
One of the key results of increasing renewable electricity production in Türkiye is reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels. As the share of natural gas in electricity generation increases, Türkiye becomes more vulnerable to rising global gas prices, LNG market shortages, exchange rate pressures and geopolitical supply risks. On the other hand, the increasing share of renewable resources in production serves as a buffer that reduces this fragility. For this reason, renewable resources cannot only be evaluated from the perspective of emissions reduction. For countries like Turkey, where energy demand is increasing and fossil fuel consumption is heavily dependent on foreign sources, renewable energies are also a strategic tool that limits the current account deficit, balances electricity production costs and strengthens security of supply in times of crisis.
At this point, the composition of Türkiye's electricity production clearly shows why this transformation is important. In 2025, 33.6 percent of electricity production came from coal, 23 percent from natural gas, 15.8 percent from hydroelectric power, 10.9 percent from wind, 10.5 percent from solar energy, 3.2 percent from geothermal energy and 3.1 percent from other sources. This distribution shows that the share of fossil fuels in electricity generation continues, but the share of wind, solar and hydropower in the system is becoming increasingly decisive. This change becomes even more important given the increasing demand for electricity in Türkiye. While Türkiye's electricity consumption reached an all-time high of 360,929 GWh in 2025, electricity production also broke a record in the same year with 362,992 GWh. New demand dynamics such as electrification in industry, widespread use of electric vehicles in transportation, digitalization, urbanization and data centers show that electricity consumption will continue to increase in the coming period. The sources from which these needs are met will be crucial to Türkiye's energy security.
Meeting increasing demand with domestic and renewable resources will strengthen security of supply and economic resilience while limiting the cost of energy imports. For this reason, investing in renewable energy is not only a technical decision that changes the current production composition for Türkiye, but also one of the basic elements of the long-term goal of energy independence. In fact, Türkiye wants to increase the installed wind and solar energy capacity alone to a total of 120,000 MW by 2035. Given targets in offshore wind, batteries and energy storage, renewable energy investments are now at the heart not only of environmental transformation, but also in the effort to reduce foreign dependence, increase system flexibility, support macroeconomic stability and strengthen energy security.
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