Turkey’s rapid rise in solar deployment has been largely attributed to the installation of unlicensed solar power plants for self consumption in the commercial and industrial sector.
Turkye’s total installed solar capacity reached 21,620 MW by the end of March, according to figures from the country’s Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEIAŞ).
The figure represents a strong start to solar deployment in 2025, when compared to the 19.8 GW of cumulative capacity installed by the end of 2024.
According to the recently published Türkiye Electricity Review by energy think tank Ember, Türkiye has been enjoying a solar boom as of late, with a total of 8.9 GW of solar installed across 2023 and 2024, an 82% increase when compared to the end of 2022.
Speaking to pv magazine during the 17th edition of SolarEx Istanbul, Ufuk Alparslan, Ember’s Regional Lead of Turkey, Ukraine & Western Balkans, and author of the report, explained that the rise of unlicensed solar power facilities for self-consumption has been key to Türkiye’s solar growth over the last years.
Under current regulations, unlicensed solar power generations are permitted if the installer will use some of the electricity generated themselves. Up until around two years ago, such facilities had to be installed at the same point as consumption. This restriction was relaxed to allow installation and consumption to take place in different locations, provided they were in the same distribution zones, and has since been further reduced, to now allow installation and consumption to take place in different distribution zones.
“For example, if you have a facility in Istanbul, you can now install your solar panels in Antalya, where there is more sunshine. There was a marked take up [in unlicensed solar power plants] after this regulation,” Alparslan explained.
The amendment has been particularly beneficial to the C&I segment, with most unlicensed installations ground-mounted, rather than rooftop. Alparslan says he hears of many unlicensed, self-consumption facilities between 50 MW and 100 MW in size, even up to 200 MW in some cases.
During a talk held at SolarEx Istanbul, it was revealed that unlicensed solar power facilities made up to 90% of new solar installations in Turkey over the last two years. Muhammed Albayrak, a representative of the country’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, said the government is expecting that trend to continue in the coming years.
Alparslan also told pv magazine that while the ongoing outlook for the Turkish solar market is strong, the country’s vast project pipeline means there is currently little available capacity for future projects, which is leading to many new proposals being rejected, regardless of size.
While he said that the transmission network could be expanded to facilitate further installations, Alparslan also suggested that hybrid power plants, via installing solar as an auxiliary source at existing power generation facilities, as a way to bypass application and capacity restrictions.
Solar looks particularly attractive at the site of existing hydroelectric power plants, of which Turkey boasts dams close to 24 GW of capacity, as it could benefit from solar co-installations to compensate for shortfalls during drought conditions.
Alparslan added that to date, there is 1 GW of hybrid solar capacity in Turkey which is not accounted for in official statistics. According to Ember’s Türkiye Electricity Review, there was a further 3.5 GW of hybrid solar attached to licensed projects at the end of last year.
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