Wind Energy Potential and Turbine Installations in Turkey

In Turkey, where there is no nuclear power, electricity is generated from the thermal, hydro, wind and geothermal power plants. While the installed capacity of Turkey's electric power plants was 4,187 MW in 1975, it increased to 40,777 MW in 2007. For the total installed capacity of 40,777 MW, the share of wind power plants is only 0.36%. On the other hand, Turkey has the highest share of technical wind energy potential in Europe. It is estimated that Turkey's technical wind energy potential is around 83,000 MW; the economica potential is approximately 10,000 MW But, by the end of November 2008, the installed wind capacity of Turkey was only 3.33% of Turkey's total economical wind potential. The strong development of wind energy in Turkey is expected to continue in the coming years. In this article, wind energy potential and wind power installations in Turkey are investigated in detail.