Turkey has rapidly developed into a leading global wind market since Danish giant Vestas installed its first wind turbine back in 1984, said the head of company’s Turkey branch.

Since its establishment, Vestas has delivered 2 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind capacity in Turkey. Employing 200 people who are distributed among the main offices in Istanbul and five regional centers, Vestas has developed a local value chain, locally sourcing blades, towers and generators to continue creating local jobs and capabilities.

Head of Vestas Turkey Olcayto Yiğit said that Turkey is an important market for Vestas since it offers a considerable market size, project pipeline, market predictability and good potential for growth.

To build on this growth and encourage investments, he said market transparency and a continuous project pipeline are needed.

He also advised rethinking the design of the power markets to ensure that they are more resilient against fossil fuel volatility at a time when the global energy crisis has seen soaring energy bills.

“An energy system that can rely on a high proportion of renewables generation would be far less sensitive to fossil fuel supply disruptions but this system also requires adjustments in the way we transport the energy to consumers when demand is high and store when demand is low,” Yiğit noted.

He added that the design of a decarbonized power market would need to respond to this challenge in the world’s journey to net zero.

Turkey ranked fifth in Europe last year in terms of its renewable power capacity growth, and it is predicted to add 22.2 gigawatts (GW) by 2025 to reach 66.8 GW, according to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Renewables 2020 report.

The country was also ranked among the top five countries in Europe in terms of large-scale production plants for wind turbine equipment.