Turkey Jumps to 5th in Wind Energy, 10th in Solar Globally

Turkey just landed among the world's renewable energy leaders, signaling a major shift in how this nation of 85 million people powers its future.

According to BloombergNEF's latest Turkey Transition Factbook, the country ranked fifth globally for wind energy installations and tenth for solar in 2025. These aren't small steps forward. They're giant leaps for a nation that imported most of its energy just a decade ago.

The numbers tell an impressive story. Turkey added 6.4 gigawatts of new solar capacity last year alone. To put that in perspective, that's enough to power roughly 2 million homes.

Between now and 2035, another 25 gigawatts of wind energy capacity will come online. Nearly 40% of those new wind installations will come from government-backed renewable energy projects called YEKA, which bundle large-scale wind farms with battery storage.

Solar power is growing even faster. Turkey's solar capacity is expected to double by 2030, driven mainly by small businesses and homeowners installing panels for their own use. In 2025, these unlicensed rooftop systems accounted for 84% of new solar installations.

The country isn't just building renewable energy. It's building the infrastructure to store it. Battery storage capacity is projected to reach 8 gigawatts by 2035 as costs drop and domestic production ramps up. Around 90% of this storage will be grid-scale systems that help balance power supply when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing.

New regulations are accelerating this transition. Grid-scale storage licenses are now only granted to projects integrated with wind or solar farms, ensuring that renewable energy can be stored and used when it's needed most.

The Ripple Effect

Turkey's renewable energy surge creates opportunities far beyond electricity generation. International partnerships with Saudi Arabia and the UAE are bringing investment dollars and technical expertise. Germany's wind turbine manufacturer Enercon recently moved its rotor blade production to Turkey with a 50 million euro plant, creating jobs while reducing costs.

The transition also means energy independence. Every megawatt generated from Turkish wind and sun is one less megawatt that needs to be imported. For a country that has historically relied on foreign energy sources, that shift represents both economic security and environmental progress.

As climate challenges intensify globally, Turkey's rapid renewable buildout shows that emerging economies can lead in clean energy, not just follow.