Wind energy in Turkey : potential and economic viability

Abstract

Turkey wants to encourage renewable electricity generation to reduce dependence on imported natural gas and meet its highly growing power demand. The government’s objective is to increase the share of renewable resources in electricity generation to at least 30 percent by 2023, and the specific target for the installed wind energy capacity is 20 GW by that date. Fortunately, Turkey has an enormous wind energy potential to exploit for electricity generation. When from “good” to “outstanding” wind clusters are taken into account, the overall technical wind power generation capacity in Turkey is calculated to be nearly 48 GW. In this context, this thesis investigates whether policy instruments in the Turkish regulatory frame contribute to economic viability for wind power projects or not. The financial results point out that an electricity price of 7.3 USD cent/kWh, which is the guaranteed price for wind power generation by current regulations, does not make a typical onshore wind power plant located in a “good” windy resource economically viable. However, when locally produced wing blades and turbine towers are used in the project, the purchase price increases to 8.7 USD cent/kWh, and the project becomes economically viable. As a result, the local content element introduced in recent regulations promotes wind energy investments and helps government to reach its renewable target for 2023.