APD | Turkey’s solar power capacity reaches 6,000 megawatts: official

**By APD writer **Muhammad Sohail

Turkey’s solar power capacity has officially crossed 6,000 megawatts (MW) mark, said the head of Solar Energy Investors Association (GÜYAD) on Sunday.

Chief of the GÜYAD Berke Aygün told local media that statistics from the association show that solar power plants generated 9,085 GWh of electricity by the end of November 2019, which already crossed the total of some 7,800 GWh of power produced at those power plants in 2018.

According to the data, the power generation from solar plants accounted for some 3.31 percent of total electricity production of the country.

The solar power production is still low as compared to its installed capacity of 6.45 percent of the country’s total 91,375 MW electricity installed capacity.

Last month, Turkey’s total solar power production was 580 GWh of electricity while the country has achieved the highest level of electricity production in June, July, and August while solar power plants provided 2.56 percent of the country’s electricity output last year.

Turkey's altogether renewable electricity, including geothermal, wind, solar and waste, production accounted for 12.73 percent of electricity generation. The shares of geothermal and wind power plants were 2.44 percent and 6.54 percent, respectively.

However, renewables’ share in the country’s total electricity production was higher at 14.47 percent in November.

According to the official, investments in solar power equipment have reached 5.5 billion U.S. dollars to date and its capacity will grow further in 2020.

The share of domestic and renewable energy resources for electricity generation will be more than 50 percent, the official added.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)