The capacity Türkiye built in onshore wind energy last year placed it among the top nations in Europe, according to a report that affirms the country's renewable drive aimed at helping replace costly fossil fuel imports with clean energy.
Türkiye installed 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of onshore wind energy capacity in 2024, more than twice the volume installed in 2023, according to data compiled from the latest report by industry association WindEurope.
It has moved up eight places to rank third in Europe, after Germany, which added the highest amount of onshore wind capacity to the grid, with 3.2 GW, and Finland, which installed about 1.4 GW.
Spain, with 1.1 GW, and France, with 1 GW of capacity increase, rounded the top five countries in Europe, according to the report.
The additions in Türkiye stemmed from the capacity extension projects for current wind farms coming online, as well as additions under the Renewable Energy Resource Zone (YEKA) auction mechanism, due to be fully commissioned by the end of 2025.
Across the EU, a total of 13 GW of wind power was installed last year – falling short of expectations. "This is disappointing," said Pierre Tardieu of WindEurope, citing grid bottlenecks, ongoing permit challenges and difficult financial conditions as key obstacles.
Offshore wind expansion was further hindered by limited port capacity and a shortage of suitable vessels.
Europe installed 16.4 GW of new wind power capacity in 2024. The European Union member states installed 12.9 GW of this, according to the report. Some 84% of the new wind capacity built in Europe last year was onshore.
Europe now has 285 GW of wind power capacity, 248 GW onshore and 37 GW offshore. The EU accounts for 231 GW of the total installed capacity, 210 GW onshore and 21 GW offshore.
However, to meet the EU's 2030 climate targets, annual installations must reach 30 GW, the association said.
The EU aims to generate 42.5% of its total energy from renewables by the end of the decade, requiring a significant acceleration in wind power expansion.
Half of all countries in Europe met a greater share of demand with wind power in 2024. Twenty countries had wind energy shares above 10%, 17 in the EU plus the U.K., Türkiye and Norway.
Germany continues to have the largest installed wind power fleet in Europe with 72.7 GW. The U.K. has overtaken Spain to have the second largest installed fleet with 31.6 GW.
With Spain (31.2 GW), France (24.4 GW), Sweden (17.2 GW), and Türkiye (13.8 GW), the top six countries account for two-thirds of the total installed capacity in Europe.
Italy (12.9 GW), the Netherlands (11.7 GW) and for the first time, Poland (10.2 GW), round out the countries in Europe with an installed wind power capacity greater than 10 GW.
WindEurope projects that around 187 GW of new wind energy capacity will be installed in Europe between 2025 and 2030. The EU should install 140 GW of this, or 23 GW a year on average.
During this period, 75% of the new investments in Europe are expected to be in onshore wind farms.
Additionally, the average turbine capacity for onshore wind energy last year was 4.6 megawatts (MW), while offshore wind turbines had an average capacity of 10.1 MW.
In turbine installations, Germany led with 644 turbines, followed by France with 387 turbines and Türkiye with 272 turbines.
Türkiye has limited oil and natural gas resources and suffers from a high current account deficit due to vast energy imports.
It has been incentivizing investments in renewable power plants since 2005 to reduce its high import bill and insulate itself from geopolitical risks.
While Türkiye's electricity consumption has tripled in the last two decades, it is expected to increase even faster in the coming years due to the long-term energy transformation, which involves replacing fossil fuel energy with electricity.
In October 2024, the country announced it will conduct YEKA tenders of at least 2 GW annually up to 2035.
The YEKA scheme was introduced in 2016 to facilitate land allocation for investors, ease the deployment of large projects and encourage the domestic production of renewable energy technologies.
So far this year, Türkiye has awarded contracts for the construction of onshore wind power plants with a total installed capacity of 1.2 GW.
It also unveiled updates to the YEKA model to draw greater investor interest. Key enhancements included simplifying post-tender permitting procedures and introducing financial incentives like exemptions from transmission fees.
Türkiye boasts more than 33 GW installed capacity in wind and solar energy. It plans to lift this figure to 120 GW by 2035, according to the government's targets.
WindEurope says it expects Türkiye to add an extra 12.5 GW of onshore wind, for a total of more than 26 GW of onshore wind energy capacity by 2030.
