Turkey 2nd among European countries with largest HEPP capacity, eyes 1st place by 2023

Turkey is the second in Europe and the ninth country worldwide to have the largest installed power generated from hydroelectrical power plants (HEPP), and with newly inaugurated plants to start operating at full capacity, the country foresees reaching first place in Europe by 2023.

According to the 2020 Hydropower Status Report published by the International Hydropower Association (IHA), China is the world's largest HEPP market with an installed power of 352.260 megawatts (MW). Brazil comes second in the list with 104.139 MW, the U.S. third with 102.745 MW, Canada fourth with 81.386 MW and India fifth with 49.917 MW.

Turkey took ninth place on the list with a total of 28.358 MW installed power, followed by France with 25.519 MW.

Evaluating the report, Hydroelectric Power Plants Industrial Businessmen Association (HESİAD) Chairman Taner Ercömert told Turkish daily Dünya that Turkey’s installed capacity from HEPPs would leave behind Norway – which currently has 32.256 MW – by 2023, securing the first place in Europe.

Ercömert, who is also the general manager of Limak Holding HEPP Group and a prominent name among sector representatives, said that the country’s installed capacity, which was 28.358 MW on Jan. 1, has reached to 29.193 Gigawatt electrical (GWe) as of June 1, with the new power plants entering into operation during the first five months.

“Our HEPP installed power is expected to exceed 31,000 MW at the end of the year and reach 32,000 MW in 2021,” he said, following the full capacity commissioning of recently inaugurated dams, including Ilısu, Çetin, Alpaslan 2 and Gürsöğüt.

According to the IHA report, the world hydroelectricity installed power has increased to 1.31 million MW (1.308 GW) as of 2020. Hydroelectric power generation in the world has also broken a new record with 4,306 terawatts (TWh). The report emphasized that those figures go down in history as the highest annual electricity generation value produced based on a renewable energy source.

Highlighting the importance of renewable resources emphasized in IHA's hydroelectric status report, Ercömert said “100 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission in the world was prevented with HEPPs replacing thermal production.”