Wind and solar generated more electricity than hydropower in Turkey for the first time in 2025, reaching a combined 22 percent share, but coal remained the country’s largest power source at 34 percent, according to the London-based energy think tank Ember’s annual review.
Ember said solar power generation in Turkey doubled in two years, rising from 18.4 terawatt-hours in 2023 to 37.3 terawatt-hours in 2025. Solar’s share of electricity generation increased from 4.7 percent in 2022 to 10.5 percent in 2025, while wind reached 11.1 percent.
About two-thirds of coal-fired generation came from imported coal.
Turkey added 6.5 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity in 2025, a record annual increase, bringing total installed wind and solar capacity to about 40 gigawatts. Ember said that is still below the pace needed to meet Turkey’s 2035 target of 120 gigawatts. Reaching that target requires about 8 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity each year.
The rise in wind and solar has reduced the role of natural gas in power generation. Gas accounted for 48 percent of Turkey’s electricity in 2014, compared with 22 percent in 2025. Coal’s share rose from 30 percent to 34 percent over the same period.
Turkey generated about 43 percent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2025, above the global average but below the European Union average of 48 percent, the report said. Among 24 European countries with annual electricity generation above 25 terawatt-hours, Turkey ranked 16th in renewables, 15th in wind and 14th in solar.
Outside Europe, Turkey led its region. Ember said no other country in the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia with electricity generation above 25 terawatt-hours had a wind and solar share above 20 percent. Turkey reached 22 percent.
Globally, Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2026 said clean power sources met all of the increase in global electricity demand in 2025. Solar alone supplied 75 percent of the increase, while fossil fuel generation fell by 0.2 percent, the first drop since 2020.
Globally, renewables also generated more electricity than coal for the first time in the modern power system, reaching 33.8 percent of output compared with coal’s 33.0 percent, Ember said.
Coal remains Turkey’s largest source of electricity. Coal-fired generation stood at 121 terawatt-hours in 2025, slightly below the 122 terawatt-hour record set in 2024. Although Turkey has more installed capacity in domestic coal plants than in imported coal plants, imported coal plants run at capacity factors above 80 percent, compared with about 45 percent for domestic coal plants, the report said.
That leaves Turkey’s power sector exposed to foreign coal suppliers. S&P Global reported that Russia was Turkey’s leading thermal coal supplier in recent monthly data, with imports also coming from Colombia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, the United States and Iran. A separate market report for 2025 listed Russia as Turkey’s largest coal supplier overall, followed by Colombia and Australia.
Turkey announced in September 2025 that domestic coal plants would receive a purchase guarantee starting in 2026 and running through 2029, a program officials have also described as lasting until 2030. Ember said the measure could increase generation from domestic coal plants and push total coal-fired generation to a new high before any decline after 2030.
Hydropower has weakened because of drought. Ember said the average output of Turkey’s three largest dams, Atatürk, Karakaya and Keban, was 29 percent lower over the past 10 years than in the 1996 to 2005 period.
Lower hydropower generation is usually replaced by gas-fired plants, raising gas imports. Ember estimated the long-term cost of drought-related hydropower losses at an average of $1.8 billion a year, based on the assumption that lower hydropower output is replaced by gas-fired generation.
Turkey also has one of Europe’s largest battery project pipelines. Since 2022 new wind and solar plants with storage have been required to install battery capacity equal to their generation capacity. Approved projects have created a 33-gigawatt battery pipeline, equal to 83 percent of Turkey’s current wind and solar capacity.
The planned batteries, however, are mostly short-duration systems. Ember said licensed and pre-licensed battery projects in Turkey amount to 37 gigawatt-hours, giving them an average storage duration of 1.1 hours. Globally, batteries installed in 2025 averaged 2.5 hours.
Grid access and permitting remain the main barriers to new wind and solar projects, the report said. Turkey would need $28 billion in additional grid investment to reach its 120-gigawatt wind and solar target by 2035, according to government estimates cited by Ember.
Ufuk Alparslan, Ember’s regional lead for Turkey and the Caucasus, said Turkey had made gains in wind and solar but still trailed European countries when all renewable sources were counted. He said Turkey led neighboring regions in wind and solar and could take a regional role as it prepares to host the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP31.