Wind power plants accounted for over half, or 51.5%, of Turkey's additional electricity capacity of 1,268 megawatts during the January-April period of this year, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency on Friday.
Turkey's total installed electricity capacity exceeded 97,000 megawatts at the end of April 2021.
Out of the total capacity, renewables contributed almost 51,000 megawatts.
In the first four months of this year, electricity capacity grew by 1,268 megawatts, with wind alone accounting for 652.3 megawatts out of this capacity.
The biggest wind power additions came from the provinces of Canakkale, Bursa, Balikesir, Kirklareli in the Marmara region, and Izmir, Aydın and Mugla in the Aegean region, along with Van and Hatay in the east.
Hydropower ranked second in terms of newly added capacity with 363.8 megawatts, accounting for 28.7% of total installed capacity during the January-April period.
Newly installed solar power capacity stood at 161.7 megawatts, corresponding to 12.8%, with Konya, Van and Mersin reigning as the leading solar provinces.
Geothermal and biomass generated 59 megawatts while thermal power plant capacity contributed 30.8 megawatts in the first four months of the year.
As a result, renewable resources accounted for 97.5% of installed capacity during the same period.
Turkey added a record capacity of about 4,900 megawatts last year, the majority of which came from renewables.
The main driver behind this growth was the push from investors to complete their projects in time to benefit from the Renewable Energy Support Scheme (YEKDEM), which was due to expire on Dec. 31 last year because of its dollar-based trade.
The same trend is continuing as the scheme was extended to June 30 this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused supply chain disruptions especially in the first half of last year.
YEKDEM, which started in 2011, supports wind and hydropower plants at $0.073 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), geothermal facilities at $0.105 kWh, and solar and biomass plants at $0.133 kWh. These figures can vary slightly depending on the use of locally produced plant equipment.
A new scheme model was designed based on dollar-linked trade in Turkish liras.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr