Solar power in Turkey

Turkey’s sunny climate possesses a high solar energy potential, specifically in the South Eastern Anatolia and Mediterranean regions.^[3] Solar power is a growing part of renewable energy in the country, with 14 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels^[4] generating 6% of the country's electricity.^[5]: 13 Solar thermal is also important.^[6]: 29

Although similarly sunny, by 2021 Turkey had installed far less solar power than Spain.^[7]: 49 Solar power subsidizes coal and fossil gas power.^[8]: 9 Every gigawatt of solar power installed would save over US$100 million on gas import costs,^[9] and more of the country's electricity might be exported.^[10]

Most new solar power is tendered as part of hybrid power plants.^[11][12] Building new solar power plants would be cheaper than running existing import-dependent coal plants if they were not subsidized.^[13] However, think tank Ember has listed several obstacles to building utility-scale solar plants, such as insufficient new grid capacity for solar power at transformers,^[14] a 50 MW cap for any single solar power plant's installed capacity, and large consumers not allowed to sign long-term power purchase agreements for new solar installations.^[13] Ember says there is technical potential for 120 GW of rooftop solar, almost 10 times 2023 capacity, which they say could generate 45% of the country’s 2022 demand.^[15]