Turkey invests 1 bln euros in wind power

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s investment in new wind farms amounted to a total of 1 billion euros in 2021, according to a recent report by WindEurope.

The country’s investments and installed capacity in wind power have increased significantly over the past two decades.

Back in 2004, Turkey’s installed wind power capacity was only 19 megawatts (MW). The capacity exceeded the 1,000MW threshold for the first time in 2010. In the following year, the county continued to expand its investments in this form of clean energy.

Data from the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry show that the installed capacity in wind power climbed to 7,005 MW and 8,832MW in 2020.

Turkey created an additional 1,750 MW capacity to reach 10,750MW installed capacity at the end of 2021.

In line with the capacity increase, wind power’s share in the country’s energy generation increased.

In 2010, wind power accounted for only 1.4 percent of all electricity generated. In 2016, its share grew to 5.65 percent and further increased to 7.15 percent. In 2020, Turkey produced 8.1 percent of its electricity from wind farms.

Last year, 41 billion euros were invested in the construction of new wind farms in Europe, financing a record 24.6 GW of new capacity, according to the latest edition of WindEurope’s Financing and Investment Trends report.

Eleven countries in Europe invested at least 1 billion euros in new wind farms, said the report.

“The U.K. invested the most [almost all in offshore wind] followed by Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and Finland. Spain invested the most in onshore wind. Sweden, Finland, Poland and Lithuania all invested more in new farms than they had done in any previous year.”

The strong onshore wind investments show that Europe is starting to turn the corner on permitting, it added.

“But the results are still far off from where Europe needs to be to reach its new climate change and energy security targets. The REPowerEU agenda now wants the EU to expand its wind capacity from 190 GW today to 480 GW by 2030. This means building 35 GW of new wind turbines a year until 2030.”