Turkey's Akfen Renewable Energy started electricity generation in the 51 megawatt (MW) first phase of the Üçpınar wind energy plant in Çanakkale province in the Marmara region, a statement from the company said Saturday.

Turkey aims to boost investments in renewables and expand the use of domestic energy resources. A number of local and foreign companies are investing in the country's renewable and domestic resources.

Akfen Renewable Energy plans to reach 1,000 MW of installed power capacity from domestic and renewable resources by 2020. Akfen's total investments in renewable energy projects are expected to reach over $500 million.

In this respect, the first of the wind energy plants with 30.6 MW, Kocalar in Çanakkale, came online in March. Following the Kocalar plant, Akfen began power production in the first part of the Üçpınar project, which is expected to produce 156 gigawatt hours of electricity per year.

The first phase of the plant has 51 MW of installed capacity. Akfen reached 406 MW in electricity generation capacity thanks to Üçpınar's first phase. The Üçpınar wind energy plant, a $143 million investment, will have 112 MW of electricity production capacity when it goes online at full capacity in 2019. By then, it will generate enough to meet the power needs of 450,000 people. The Hasanoba wind plant with 58 MW in Çanakkale and the Denizli wind plant with 75 MW in Aegean province of Denizli will become operational by the end of this year.

Thus, the company's installed wind capacity will reach 275 MW while the total installed capacity will rise to 632 MW by the end of 2019.

Decreasing costs, thanks to continuously developing technology, have prompted Turkish energy investors to focus their investments in renewable energy in accordance with Turkey's goal to boost the share of local and renewable resources in power generation. As a result of public incentives and private sector efforts, wind power investments have recorded tremendous increases. Last year, investments in this sector totaled $650 million, according to the 2018 Wind Energy Statistics Report released by the Turkish Wind Energy Association (TÜREB).

Turkey's current installed wind capacity reached 7,369 MW by the end of 2018, an increase of 7.2 percent year on year.

The country ranked sixth among the European continent's 38 countries, including Russia and Ukraine, for additional installed wind capacity in 2018. Turkey added 467 MW in 2018 to reach a total of 7,369 MW installed capacity, according to Wind Energy in Europe in the 2018 Trends and Statistics report.