Solar power in Turkey

Turkey’s sunny climate possesses a high solar energy potential, specifically in the South Eastern Anatolia and Mediterranean regions. Solar power is a growing part of renewable energy in the country, with 10 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels generating 5% of the country's electricity. Solar thermal is also important.^: 29

Although similarly sunny, by 2021 Turkey had installed far less solar power than Spain.^: 49 Solar power subsidizes coal and fossil gas power.^: 9 Every gigawatt of solar power installed would save over US$100 million on gas import costs, and more of the country's electricity might be exported.

Most new solar power is tendered as part of hybrid power plants. Building new solar power plants would be cheaper than running existing import-dependent coal plants if they were not subsidized. However, think tank Ember has listed several obstacles to building utility-scale solar plants, such as insufficient new grid capacity for solar power at transformers, a 50 MW cap for any single solar power plant's installed capacity, and large consumers not allowed to sign long-term power purchase agreements for new solar installations. Ember says there is technical potential for 120 GW of rooftop solar, almost 10 times 2023 capacity, which they say could generate 45% of the country’s 2022 demand.