Türkiye’s installed wind power capacity has reached 13,391 megawatts (MW) as of May, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said on Sunday on the occasion of Global Wind Day.
“We increased our installed capacity from only 19 MW in 2002 to 13,391 MW as of May 2025,” the ministry said in a post on X.
“Our energy supply power is increasing with wind turbines rising into the sky at every point in Anatolia, and Türkiye continues its rapid progress toward a sustainable future in energy,” it added.
The installed wind power capacity across the country has surged by at least 177% over the past decade, according to a recent report by Anadolu Agency (AA), which cited a rising demand for renewables, technological advances and supportive government policies.
The country installed its first wind farm in 1998 in Çesme, a district of Izmir on the Aegean coast. Since then, the number of wind plants has grown to span all seven geographical regions.
In June 2016, Türkiye’s installed wind capacity stood at 4,822 MW. By mid-2025, that figure had climbed to over 13,000 MW, thus marking a rise of 177% over 10 years, the report by AA indicated.
Industry experts point to strong policy support, maturing technology and growing environmental awareness as key drivers of this transformation.
Global interest in renewable energy gained momentum following the oil crisis of 1973, although the trend slowed in the 1980s due to falling oil prices. However, renewed focus in the 1990s, driven by environmental concerns, led to significant developments in renewable technologies.
Today, advancements in wind turbine technology have made wind energy cost-competitive, while offering minimal environmental impact: a combination that has fueled widespread adoption worldwide.
“Our average annual growth has reached 1,000 MW over the past decade, three times higher than the previous 10-year period,” Alper Kalaycı, chairperson of the Energy Industrialists and Businessmen Association (ENSIA), told AA on Friday.
Looking ahead, Kalaycı emphasized that reaching Türkiye’s 2035 onshore wind target of 38.1 gigawatts will require boosting the annual capacity increase to around 2,300 MW.
“To achieve this pace, it’s crucial to accelerate the ‘super permit’ process,” he noted.
“In addition to streamlining approvals, strengthening our grid infrastructure will be key to integrating more wind energy into the system,” he added.
In line with this and to push to speed up the licensing process, the ministry declared four areas in Eskişehir, Erzurum, and Sivas as Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA), according to a decision published in the country’s Official Gazette on Sunday.
