With around $3 billion in renewable energy financing in Turkey last year, renewable capacity rose to nearly 49 gigawatts (GW) with the addition of around 4,900 megawatts (MW), which marked a record-high increase, according to Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry data.
Renewable energy offers Turkey a way to reduce its current account deficit, support local industry and employment and attract long-term foreign investment, Hatem noted.
"As a country which has no energy security problem, Turkey has a great opportunity to realize the transition to renewable energy," he said.
Turkey saw growth in biomass capacity with over 300 MW coming online in 2020, but this year it is expected to rise significantly to around 400 MW.
Hatem explained that unlicensed solar capacity also grew by 400 MW in 2020 and a similar amount of unlicensed solar capacity is forecast to come online this year, thanks to the increasing number of rooftop installations across the country.
"Thus, we expect around 4,500 MW of additional renewable energy capacity to come into operation and the sector could attract around $3 billion this year through the continuation of the banks' support for clean energy," he said.
Hatem said the mini solar Renewable Energy Resource Zones (YEKA) tenders, totaling 1,000 megawatts (MW) in capacity for 36 regions across the country, would constitute a significant part of new projects in 2021.
"After 2021, based on today's projections, we expect around 1,500-2,000 MW of renewable capacity to come online annually," he said, adding that a minimum of 2,000 MW of wind and solar energy capacity is necessary to sustain growth in the sector.
Hatem also explained that this year Turkey's energy sector is expected to witness a number of public offerings.
"We see that companies with an energy portfolio of over 200 MW have started to put public offerings on their agenda this year. In parallel with the speed of the economic recovery this year, mergers and acquisitions could also gain further momentum," Hatem concluded.
(Anadolu Agency, February 9, 2021)