Türkiye plans to quadruple renewable energy with a 108 billion dollar investment by 2035. In the recent meeting, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar mentioned that Türkiye aims to reach 120 thousand megawatts of wind and solar installed power, which means that it needs to invest nearly 80 billion dollars to reach this goal mentioned in “Green Transformation Plans for 2035’”. Although the plan seems fascinating in theory, there’s the reality that Türkiye can’t escape from, namely its economical problems.
The 2035 Green Transformation Plan includes goals in various fields such as energy, agriculture, transportation, industry and more. Mainly focused areas in the plan include fighting against climate change, as well as transitioning to carbon neutralizing. Carbon neutralizing means having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks, and it is a crucial goal when fighting with climate change since it helps decrease the amount of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere that trap heat, and pollution in the atmosphere.
The meeting “Energy Transformation - Renewable Energy 2035” was conducted last month at the Dolmabahçe Work Office. Bayraktar expressed the ambitious expectations by saying “We are determined to make the Türkiye Century the clean energy investment century.” Noting that Türkiye is 5th in Europe in terms of renewable energy capacity and 11th in the world, Minister Bayraktar said “Our target is to enter the top three in Europe in 2025 and the top nine in the world.”
Bayraktar also stated the three main goals of Turkish energy politics: Supply security, reducing external dependence on energy and net zero emissions by 2053. Since the natural gas and electric demands of Türkiye increased by three times within the last 20 years, its mission is to become an energy exporting country. Regarding this mission, it is agreeable to say that the current percentage of imported energy of 70% makes it seem hard to reach such standards until 2053.
The topic of renewable energy was highly discussed at the meeting. It is expected for the renewable energy rate to increase from 22% to 45% by 2030. This ambitious target requires an enormous amount of money, $108 billion in total investments, including $80 billion for the energy generation capacity and an additional $10 billion for modernizing the grid infrastructure.
The recently discussed and released plan is promising if applied well, however, Türkiye’s current economic struggles makes it significantly tougher to reach the investment goals. On November 29, Türkiye’s economic statistics from July to September were published, so a more comprehensive and clear examination can be made. Although the statistics suggest that Türkiye’s economy had a 2.1% growth compared to last year’s 3rd quarter, there was a 0.2% percent decrease compared to the 2nd quarter of 2024, and the overall results were below expectancy according to economists. This reflects tightened financial conditions and reduced private consumption and investment.
Given the economic data, Türkiye has not reached the expected standards in growth, although it is setting high expectations in energy transformation, which makes experts highly concerned. Bayraktar stated that 108 billion dollars of investment will be made to quadruple renewable energy rates of Türkiye, which translates into approximately 7.2 billion dollars of investment each year until 2035. Türkiye is not eligible to meet this need without substantial international support, innovative financing models, and policy reforms to attract private investment and ensure fiscal sustainability. High inflation rates of 48.6% and external debts of Türkiye may challenge the realization of the ambitious green transformation goals.
Although it is not easy for Türkiye to reach its 2035 Green Transformation Goals, past achievements in this field are highly promising. As stated previously, Türkiye ranks 5th in Europe and 11th in the world, which are remarkable rankings, and Türkiye demonstrates exceptional performance and notable success in this field. For instance, 42% of Türkiye’s electric generation comes from renewable sources, primarily hydro, solar and wind energy. It is important to also note that Türkiye has a high wind energy potential with access to high wind speeds in certain regions, which is a great resource of renewable energy.
The 2035 Green Transformation plan is a bold and promising initiative with great potential if implemented effectively. Even though Türkiye’s financial situation may not be eligible to meet the necessary 108 billion dollars of investment for the plan easily, through right strategic moves and sufficient international support, the needs can be met. Türkiye’s rank of renewable energy in the world is remarkable and promising, and within the next 10 years, an even more outstanding rank is expected by the experts.
Edited by: Oya Yamaç, Yağmur Ece Nisanoğlu