Natural gas plays an important role in Türkiye's energy transition and serves as a bridge fuel, contributing both to the country's 2053 net-zero emissions target and energy supply security, a top official said on Monday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 850-megawatt (MW) ENKA Natural Gas Combined-Cycle Power Plant in Kırklareli, in northwestern Türkiye, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar emphasized the critical role of gas in the country's energy mix.
"Out of our total installed capacity exceeding 125,000 megawatts, around 25,000 megawatts, roughly one-fifth, consists of natural gas plants," he said.
"In 2025, out of 363 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, 23% or 83 billion kilowatt-hours was generated via natural gas power plants," he added.
Moreover, the minister indicated that under the National Energy Plan, Türkiye aims to add 10,000 megawatts of additional natural gas capacity by 2035 in order to meet rising electricity demand and balance the intermittency of renewable energy sources.
He noted that the power outages experienced in Europe last year, which affected the lives of some 60 million people, demonstrated the risks of relying solely on renewable energy, and emphasized the great importance of natural gas combined-cycle power plants in this regard.
Bayraktar described the newly inaugurated facility as a concrete reflection of this strategy, stressing its importance not only for Kırklareli but also for the wider Marmara region, which he called the country's industrial heartland and highest electricity-consuming area.
"With an annual generation capacity of approximately 7 billion kilowatt-hours, this plant will significantly strengthen supply security across a wide geography, particularly Thrace and Istanbul," he said, adding that the facility will also support a more flexible and balanced electricity transmission system.
Highlighting the plant's technological features, Bayraktar said it operates with an efficiency rate above 63%, which will reduce both fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
"When operating at full capacity, it will be able to meet the electricity needs of around 2.5 million households," he said.
Furthermore, Bayraktar also recalled that the country ranks fourth in Europe in gas consumption, using around 60 billion cubic meters annually, with 20-25% of it used for power generation.
He also went on to say that the state-run energy company, Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ), supplies natural gas from across six continents through pipelines or liquified natural gas (LNG) shipments. He added that domestic production, including output from the flagship Sakarya Gas Field on the northern coast, stands at around 22 million cubic meters (mcm) per day.
Türkiye's LNG regasification capacity has increased nearly fivefold since 2016 to 161 million cubic meters per day, he added, noting that two additional floating storage and regasification units (FSRU) would raise capacity to 200 million cubic meters per day in the coming years.
Bayraktar also said underground storage capacity at Silivri and Lake Tuz has reached 6.3 billion cubic meters (bcm), with plans to expand it further so that at least 20% of annual gas consumption can be stored by 2028.
"Thanks to our international projects and strong infrastructure, we do not face any natural gas supply security issues today, and we will not in the future," he concluded.
