Türkiye Left Poland Behind in This Issue! We are the Second Country in Production in Europe

A total of 60 billion dollars were paid in 2023 for imported coal, whose share in electricity production from coal increased to 3,7 percent. Russia has strengthened its position in the first place in imported coal supply. In 2023, approximately three-quarters of coal imports for electricity generation were provided from Russia. While the amount of electricity produced from imported coal has doubled in Turkey in the last decade, electricity production from domestic coal has increased by 12 percent.

Poland surpassed Turkey in the share of solar electricity generation. With the addition of 2023 GW of new solar capacity in Turkey in 2, the share of solar energy in electricity production increased to 5,7 percent. However, this increase did not prevent Poland from surpassing Turkey in solar energy with its share reaching 7,3 percent. Greece ranks highest in Europe in the share of solar electricity production with 19 percent.

For the first time in Turkey, electricity production from wind decreased year by year. 2023 MW of wind energy capacity was added in Turkey in 411. This capacity was the lowest value in the last 13 years in year-on-year installations. In Europe, Denmark leads the way in electricity production from wind, while Turkey has a share of wind in electricity production of .5; It was ahead of countries such as France (9,5%), Norway (9,3%) and Italy (9%). However, due to the slowing down of wind power plant installations, it is likely that these countries will surpass Turkey in the coming years.

Dependence on imported resources in electricity production in Turkey will continue to increase in 2023, reaching 43%. Fossil fuel addiction, which causes carbon emissions to increase, also makes it difficult to achieve climate goals. While Turkey has added 11 GW of additional capacity to wind and solar in the last five years, examples in Europe show that this installation is possible in a single year. Considering its high solar and wind energy potential, Turkey can reverse the upward trend in imported coal and achieve its clean energy transition targets.

Ember energy analyst Bahadır Sercan Gümüş said, “Turkey achieved record electricity production from coal, becoming the second country in Europe that produces the most coal-based electricity. Considering the current development, Turkey may surpass Germany and take the first place in 2025. Increasing fossil fuel dependence in electricity production causes Turkey to slow down on its clean energy transformation path. "Turkey needs to accelerate the clean energy transformation by realizing the solar potential, especially on rooftops," he said.