Turkey's wind energy sector attracted more than $12.3 billion in investments over the past 11 years, the Turkish Wind Energy Association (TÜREB) said yesterday.

The investment has boosted the country's installed capacity from 146 megawatts (MW) in 2007 to its current 6,500 MW.

By the end of the year, plans to generate 1 gigawatt (GW) under the Turkish Renewable Energy Resource Zone (YEKA) project, along with a number of finalized wind energy tenders to generate another 3 GW, will push investments in the sector to $5 billion in 2017 alone.

Among the Turkish cities, Izmir on the Aegean coast ranked first with 1,333 MW of total installed capacity. It was followed by Balıkesir in the Marmara region with 1,069 MW, and Manisa with 650 MW.

Currently, some 158 wind energy companies operate in the country and 32 projects with an installed capacity of 808 MW were under construction.

According to recent data, Turkey generates 8 percent of its electricity from wind energy.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, TÜREB President Mustafa Serdar Ataseven said Turkey boosted its wind energy capacity and attracted a substantial amount of foreign and local investments over the last five years.

"With the addition of another 2,130 MW to our installed capacity, to be finalized by the end of the year, a significant contribution to Turkey's wind market will be realized," he said. "After finalizing the tenders and YEKA project, Turkey's wind capacity will grow by around 4 GW in roughly three to four years."

He said for the sustainability of Turkey's expanding wind energy sector, the country should make use of private investment to meet the growing demand.

"Despite the investments and tenders, there will be an investment and capacity gap between 2018 and 2019," he said. "In order to meet demands, investors who have environmental impact assessment reports and electricity generation licenses should be provided with more electricity capacity to grow their investments and installed capacity."

According to the General Directorate of Renewable Energy studies, Turkey's techno-economic wind energy potential of 48 GW but currently, only 11 GW of project stock is available.

On Aug. 3, tender bidding for Turkey's first 1,000 MW wind project took place in Ankara. The Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy-Turkerler-Kalyon Energy consortium won the bidding with a $3.48 kilowatt hour (kWh) offer, surpassing the previous record of $10.30 kWh.

Turkey currently has an 11 GW of wind power stock available and has set a national target of 20 GW of installed capacity by 2023. The country's total energy target for 2023 is 100 GW.