Hydroelectric plant power production in Türkiye nearly doubled in March from a year ‌earlier to 40%, official data shows, as heavy rainfall helped to ease pressure on the energy bill of one of Europe's largest natural gas importers.

Türkiye used 16 billion cubic metres, or more than a quarter, of the natural gas ​it imported last year for electricity generation, according to market regulator EPDK. Natural gas, along ​with crude oil, constitutes the largest item in its energy import bill, which ⁠was $62 billion last year.

Hydroelectric plants lessen the need for thermal plants to use imported natural gas, ​which like oil, has seen a global price surge due to the war in the Middle East.

According to ​data from Türkiye's national energy exchange and market operator EPIAŞ, the share of hydroelectric power plants in licensed electricity production was only 21% in March last year and amounted to 16% throughout 2025, which was the driest year ​in five decades.

Elvan Tuğsuz Güven, head of Türkiye's private hydroelectric power plant operators' body HESIAD, told ​Reuters the plants will maintain a high share of electricity production until June, unless an extraordinary situation arises.

"We expect ‌the ⁠momentum to continue in the short term. It's difficult to say anything about the long term, but we expect production to gradually decline to a 25%-30% range by June," she said, compared with a 17% decrease a year earlier.

The share of natural gas power plants in overall production fell to ​8% in March from ​20% last year due ⁠to the sharp increase in hydroelectric production and the contribution of coal-fired power plants.

Güven said the increase in hydroelectric power plant (HPP) production, which was 26% ​of Türkiye's electricity generation capacity at the end of 2025 with 32 ​gigawatts (GW) of ⁠installed power, has replaced natural gas.

"They play and will continue to play a significant role in supply... and are an important resource to support energy security," she said.

A one percentage point increase in HPP production ⁠can ​save more than $300 million annually, Güven said.

About two-thirds of Türkiye's ​32 GW of installed HPP capacity are reservoir-type plants that can produce electricity year-round, while the remaining third are run-of-river type ​plants with very limited water storage capacity.