Hybrid solar potential in Türkiye

An analysis of hybrid solar potential in Türkiye indicates that adding solar capacity to existing wind and hydroelectric sites could add between 8 GW and 25.6 GW of capacity, potentially making solar the largest energy source by installed capacity in the country.

• Under current economic conditions, the hybrid solar potential for privately owned wind and hydroelectric power plants is 8 GW. This is nearly equal to the 8.4 GW installed capacity of run-of-river hydroelectric plants and more than double the combined capacity of biomass and geothermal plants. If realized, this would bring total installed solar capacity above 30 GW, surpassing the 22.5 GW recorded as of May 2025.
• Dammed hydroelectric power plants account for 46% (3.6 GW) of the 8 GW hybrid solar potential. This is attributed to the high solar potential in the Eastern Anatolia and Mediterranean regions where many of these plants are located. In contrast, wind power plants—which are concentrated in the Marmara region—have lower solar potential, resulting in a hybrid solar potential that is 1.4 GW lower than that of dammed hydro plants.
• Hybrid solar could mitigate risks associated with drought. In 2021, a significant drop in water inflows—which were 44% below the long-term average—caused the capacity factor of dammed hydro plants to decrease by 10.6 percentage points and run-of-river plants by 8.6 percentage points, leading to a 9 percentage point drop in hydroelectric power's share of total electricity generation.
• If 8 GW of hybrid solar had been deployed by 2024, it could have generated approximately 12 TWh of electricity, representing 46% of Türkiye's total solar generation for that year. This would have increased the combined share of wind and solar in total production to 21.6%, placing them just behind imported coal at 21.8%.
• The hybrid solar potential is highly sensitive to economic parameters. While the baseline scenario (9% USD interest rate, 10-year payback, 68 USD/MWh sales price) yields 8 GW, a scenario with a 4% interest rate increases the potential to 25.6 GW, which would exceed the current installed fossil gas capacity of 24.6 GW.

APA

Ember (2025). Hybrid solar potential in Türkiye. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/hybrid-solar-potential-in-turkiye/

Chicago

Ember. Hybrid solar potential in Türkiye. 2025. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/hybrid-solar-potential-in-turkiye/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Hybrid solar potential in Türkiye |date=18 June 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/chapter/hybrid-solar-potential-in-turkiye/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2025hybrid, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Hybrid solar potential in Türkiye}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://ember-energy.org/chapter/hybrid-solar-potential-in-turkiye/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }