Turkey Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in turkey, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Electric Power – Renewables, Smart Grid, Energy Storage, Civil Nuclear
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Electric Power – Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Energy Storage, New Capacity Development, Smart Grid, and Grid Modernization

Overview

Türkiye, with an electric power generation capacity of approximately 120 GW, is Europe’s sixth-largest electricity market and the 11th largest in the world by total capacity. Installed capacities are distributed as 27% hydroelectric, 21% natural gas, 19% solar, 18% coal, 11% wind, 1.8% biomass, and 1.45% geothermal. Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which is under construction, will be supplying 10% of the power generation when fully operational.

Turkish Government is giving a lot of importance to having NPPs as part of the energy mix, which will decrease current account deficit as Türkiye spends $40-60 billion every year for oil, natural gas, and coal imports. NPPs will also decrease carbon emissions that EU has been pursuing.  For that purpose, Turkish Government announced that Türkiye will have 20 GW civil nuclear power plant (NPP) capacity by 2050. This means that Türkiye will quadruple its currently planned NPP capacity. The only NPP under construction by Rosatom in Akkuyu has a total capacity of 4.8 GW. Turkish Government has also designated two other locations for two other large power plants with similar capacities. Most importantly, Turkish Government has set targets to have 5 GW Small Modular nuclear Reactor (SMR) total capacity by 2050.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar announced that Türkiye’s electricity demand is projected to reach at least 510 billion kilowatt-hours by 2035. Türkiye’s total yearly power generation in 2024 was 347 billion kilowatt-hours. This means at least 47% increase in demand. Due to growing economy, increasing manufacturing capacities, and new housing with the increasing population, Türkiye’s electricity demand is increasing almost 5% every year.

SMR technologies will play a key role in meeting Türkiye’s growing demand, replacing existing coal power plants, meeting the needs of data centers, and providing electricity and heat to oil refineries, glass, cement, fertilizer, steel, aluminum, and hydrogen industries. SMRs can also provide heat, steam and electricity to organized industrial zones in Türkiye. Majority of the Turkish industries in these sectors export their products to EU and if these industries don’t decrease their carbon emissions, they will meet penalties for each ton of carbon dioxide emissions due to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) that EU plans to implement starting from Jan 1, 2026. 

Compared to larger nuclear power plants, SMR power plants offer significant advantages such as lower initial capital investment, greater scalability, site flexibility, enhanced safety and security, limited on-site preparation, reduced lengthy construction times, economics and quality afforded by factory production. Additional modules can be added incrementally as demand for energy increases. However, for them to be financeable, Turkish Government needs to provide investment incentives for the private sector to invest, and regulations need to be added to the existing regulations for this specific technology. Higher feed-in tariffs are required, and power purchase guarantees are needed for them to be financeable.

Since Türkiye’s 60% installed capacity and 40% of the power generation is renewables, for dispatch management of the grid and electricity distribution network, much smarter systems need to be deployed. Existing SCADA and GIS systems, and smart meters need to be integrated with each other, and fully automated systems with AI capabilities can provide Türkiye with much more efficient grid management. With the implementation of 5G technologies and AI, Türkiye can have much quicker response to troubleshooting in electric grids.

Türkiye plans to have a hydrogen electrolysis installed capacity of 2 GW by 2030; 5 GW by 2035; and 70 GW by 2053. Most of the hydrogen will be blue and green hydrogen. Türkiye’s Hydrogen Technologies Strategy and Roadmap, published in 2023, states that by 2053, separate hydrogen transportation pipeline infrastructure will be developed in parallel with existing NG pipeline infrastructure to reach industrial zones throughout the country.

TEIAS (Türkiye’s transmission systems operator—TSO) owns and operates approximately 1.5 million km of medium to high voltage electric transmission power lines spread throughout the country. TEIAS conducts tenders for the establishment of new sub-stations and transmission lines as well as air and video surveillance, live maintenance, repair, and maintenance of existing lines. U.S. firms should find good Turkish partners to bid on these tenders. 

TEIAS has held observer membership status with ENTSO-E (the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity). This observer membership agreement began on January 1, 2023, and is set for a three-year term. Observer status allows TEIAS to align with ENTSO-E rules, codes, and best practices. However, without full synchronous interconnection, Türkiye’s electricity transmission system operates independently, limiting operational integration into continental frequency and market systems. Türkiye’s transmission lines connect to 21 distribution grids operated by private companies. These 21 distribution grid companies operate approximately 71,000 km of distribution lines. One of the aims of distribution system operators (DSOs) is to increase the efficiency of the existing grids by replacing the old transformers, upgrading power lines and installing smart grid systems.

The ELDER Association of Distribution Systems Operators is active in advising their members on the implementation of smart grid systems. Under a project approved by the EMRA, ELDER had a Smart Grid Roadmap prepared for DSOs outlining what type of smart grid systems their members should deploy.

Türkiye has a semi-liberalized and moderately regulated market. Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) is Türkiye’s electricity spot market, which manages day-ahead and intraday markets where more than half of the electricity generated is traded among market participants. EXIST’s website features electricity prices in real time. 

Leading Sub-sectors

  •  Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)
  • Smart grid systems (SCADA, GIS, AMR, AMI, Automated Demand Side Management, PLC and other communication systems, Volt-VAR control systems, OT, CIS, Control Centers, etc.)
  • Grid modernization and voltage and frequency regulation systems
  • Energy storage systems 

Opportunities

U.S. SMR companies are encouraged to engage with major industrial sectors in Türkiye—including oil refining, petrochemicals, glass, cement, fertilizer, steel, aluminum, and hydrogen production—where the deployment of SMR technologies could provide significant benefits. In addition, Türkiye’s rapidly expanding data center projects, its mining sector, and the organized industrial zones established across all provinces present further strategic opportunities for the application of SMR solutions. When the time is right, other opportunities exist for U.S. firms in rebuilding Ukraine and Syria’s grid infrastructure together with Turkish contractors. Combined cycle power plants will be quicker solutions to overcome electric energy shortage in both countries with the combined capabilities of U.S. and Turkish companies.

Resources


For further information on the energy sector, contact:
Serdar Cetinkaya
Eurasia Energy and Mining Leader
U.S. Commercial Service
U.S. Embassy, Ankara, Türkiye
Serdar.Cetinkaya@trade.gov

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