Solar power generation breaks record last week: Ministry

ANKARA

The share of solar power in Türkiye’s electricity generation reached an all-time high on June 16, the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday, the Energy Ministry has said.

Türkiye produced 682,233 megawatts of electricity on June 16 and 109,501 of this was generated by solar power, according to Energy Minister Alparaslan Bayraktar.

“The share of solar energy in electricity generation was 16.05 percent throughout the day. This rate exceeded 44 percent during the day, breaking a record,” Bayraktar said.

The share of renewable resources in electricity generation was 63 percent, and the share of domestic and renewable resources was 78.4 percent throughout that day, he added.

“We will continue to break new records in this field by commissioning 3,500 megawatts of solar energy installed power every year for the next 12 years,” he said, noting that according to the latest report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Türkiye is among the top 11 countries in the world and ranked 5th in Europe in terms of renewable energy installed capacity.

Türkiye’s electricity installed capacity reached 107,959 megawatts as of the end of March.

Hydraulic energy accounted for 29.6 percent of this capacity, while the shares of natural gas and coal were 23.2 percent and 20.2 percent, respectively, according to data from the Energy Ministry.

The shares of wind, solar and geothermal energy were 11.2 percent, 11.7 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

Türkiye’s electricity consumption dropped 0.2 percent last year to 330.3 TWh, while its power generation fell 0.6 percent from 2022 to 326.3 TWh.

Last year, 10.4 percent of electricity generation came from wind, and another 5.7 percent from solar energy.

Türkiye’s electricity consumption will increase to 380.2 TWH in 2025, climb further to 455.3 TWh in 2030, and hit 510.5 TWh in 2025, according to the forecasts in the National Energy Plan.