From August 2025 through July 2026, more than half of Turkey’s electricity consumption—about 54%—was supplied by low-carbon sources, while fossil fuels supplied around 46%. Hydropower was the largest clean electricity source at almost a quarter of the total, followed by wind at roughly 12% and solar at nearly 12%. Geothermal and biofuels each contributed around 2–3%. Among fossil fuels, coal supplied about 29% of electricity and gas around 17%. Turkey therefore has a substantial clean electricity foundation, but fossil fuels still supply almost half of its electricity, contributing to climate change and air pollution.

Is Electricity Growing in Turkey?

Turkey’s overall electricity consumption per person is essentially flat: the latest 2026 figure of 3,788 kWh per person is just 4 kWh below the 2025 record of 3,792 kWh. This stagnation deserves attention as electrification and AI create additional electricity demand; however, these per-person figures alone do not establish whether national consumption increased. The encouraging development is strong growth in low-carbon electricity generation, which reached about 2,036 kWh per person—roughly 325 kWh, or 19%, above the previous record set in 2024. Clean electricity is thus reaching new heights even while electricity consumption per person remains broadly unchanged.

Suggestions

To increase low-carbon electricity generation, Turkey should expand wind and solar, both of which already make substantial contributions, while building nuclear generation as another major clean electricity pillar. Relevant examples include nearby North Macedonia, where solar supplies 40% of electricity, and sunny Mediterranean regions such as Spain and Cyprus, each at about 23%. Denmark’s wind share of nearly 60% illustrates the scope for much greater wind generation. For nuclear, Turkey can learn from neighboring Bulgaria and Armenia, where it supplies roughly 37% and 29% of electricity respectively, as well as France, where nuclear provides about two-thirds. Combining these technologies with expanded grids and storage would support growing electricity demand while displacing fossil-fueled generation.

History

Turkey’s low-carbon electricity history features several major waves of hydropower growth. Annual hydro generation increased by about 10 TWh in 1988 and 7 TWh in 1993, followed by gains of roughly 10–11 TWh in both 2002 and 2004. The 2010s brought particularly large increases: about 16 TWh in 2010, 27 TWh in 2015 and 29 TWh in 2019. More recently, hydro added around 11 TWh in 2022, 10 TWh in 2024 and 26 TWh in 2026. Solar has also become an important source of additional clean electricity, with annual generation increasing by nearly 7 TWh in 2024 and about 10 TWh in 2025. These gains demonstrate Turkey’s substantial capacity to scale up low-carbon electricity.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (Aug 2025 – Jul 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.