Türkiye's livestock waste could generate up to 10,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year while helping curb methane emissions, highlighting the potential of animal manure as both a renewable energy source and a way to improve waste management.
The country had 17.7 million cattle, 57.8 million sheep and goats, and 394 million poultry as of Dec. 31, 2025, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The manure generated by this livestock population offers an opportunity to produce renewable energy while reducing the amount of methane released into the atmosphere through conventional waste storage and disposal.
Biomass currently accounts for 2% of Türkiye's electricity generation, with 363 biomass facilities operating across the country, according to Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation.
Ali Riza Oner, chairman of the Waste Management and Waste-to-Energy Producers Association (TAYED), told Anadolu that animal waste has significant potential for renewable energy production.
"We are talking about an annual potential of 4-5 billion cubic meters of biomethane and around 8-10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from this," he said.
That is equivalent to 8,000-10,000 gigawatt-hours annually.
Oner illustrated the potential at the household level, saying the manure produced by a single cow in a year could generate enough electricity to meet about five months of demand for a household consuming 2,400 kilowatt-hours annually.
Oner said methane is produced when manure is stored in pits and lagoons without oxygen and released into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
At biogas plants, organic waste is processed in enclosed reactors, with the resulting gas used to generate electricity and heat or purified into biomethane.
"For Türkiye, the environmental benefit lies in bringing animal waste under controlled management and producing domestic, renewable energy from it. Therefore, biogas plants should be evaluated not only for electricity generation but also for their role in waste management," Oner said.
Öner said approximately 100 facilities with a total installed capacity of 313 megawatts (MW) are currently operating in Türkiye, using biogas obtained from animal and agricultural waste for electricity generation.
He said that if these facilities generate 2.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, they could provide energy equivalent to the annual electricity needs of approximately 1 million households, based on average annual household consumption of 2,400 kilowatt-hours.
- Economic sustainability remains key challenge
Oner said the main challenge for animal-waste-to-energy projects is the economic sustainability of biogas plants, citing high investment and operating costs as well as rising waste procurement costs.
He said livestock farms previously provided manure to biogas plants free of charge as part of their waste disposal obligations, but that the development of the sector had turned the waste into a commercial commodity, raising costs for plants.
He warned that plants could struggle to cover their costs at free-market prices after existing Renewable Energy Resources Support Mechanism (YEKDEM) incentives expire, potentially putting some facilities at risk of closure.
"New support mechanisms are needed to ensure the sector's sustainability," Oner said.
He also called for regulatory and infrastructure arrangements to enable purified biogas to be converted into biomethane and used in place of natural gas once it meets required quality standards.
Oner said energy production, waste management and agricultural use should be considered together.
By Humeyra Ayaz
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
