From August 2025 through July 2026, low-carbon sources supplied more than half of Turkey’s electricity consumption—about 54%—while fossil fuels accounted for about 46%. Hydropower was the largest clean electricity source, providing almost a quarter of the total, followed by wind at roughly 12% and solar at another 12%. Geothermal and biofuels each contributed around 2–3%. Among fossil fuels, coal supplied about 29% of electricity and gas about 17%, leaving Turkey still substantially dependent on sources that contribute to climate change and air pollution.

Is Electricity Growing in Turkey?

Electricity consumption per person in Turkey is essentially flat rather than growing: the latest 2026 figure is 3,788 kWh, just 4 kWh below the previous record of 3,792 kWh in 2025. This stagnation is concerning as electrification and AI create additional electricity demand. Clean electricity, however, has made encouraging progress. Low-carbon generation reached about 2,036 kWh per person, roughly 325 kWh—or 19%—above its previous record in 2024. Turkey is therefore producing considerably more clean electricity per person even though overall consumption per person has barely changed; these figures alone do not establish whether nationwide total consumption is growing.

Suggestions

Turkey should expand wind and solar, building on two technologies that already supply substantial amounts of its electricity, while also developing nuclear generation. Nearby Mediterranean examples offer useful benchmarks: solar supplies about 23% of electricity in both Spain and Cyprus, roughly twice Turkey’s share, while North Macedonia reaches 40%. For wind, Denmark’s 59% and Germany’s 31% demonstrate the potential for a much larger contribution. Nuclear can complement these sources with steady low-carbon electricity: Bulgaria generates about 37% of its electricity from nuclear, neighboring Armenia about 29%, and France about two-thirds. Learning from these regions’ deployment experience, alongside expanding grids and electricity storage, could help Turkey grow clean electricity supply and replace fossil generation.

History

Turkey’s low-carbon electricity history has been marked by large swings in hydropower, with solar making increasingly strong contributions recently. In the late 1980s and 1990s, hydro gains of about 10 TWh in 1988 and 7 TWh in 1993 were offset by declines of 11 TWh in 1989 and 8 TWh in 1999. The 2000s brought gains of roughly 10–11 TWh in 2002 and 2004, followed by an 8 TWh fall in 2007. During the 2010s, hydro rose by 16 TWh in 2010, dropped by 19 TWh in 2014, then rebounded by 27 TWh in 2015; another decline in 2017 preceded a 29 TWh increase in 2019. The 2020s remained uneven, with consecutive declines in 2020–2021, recoveries in 2022 and 2024, a 15 TWh fall in 2025, and a strong 26 TWh rebound in 2026. Encouragingly, solar added about 7 TWh in 2024 and 10 TWh in 2025, broadening the foundations of Turkey’s clean electricity growth.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

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