Wind energy potential in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the wind energy potential in Turkey. In Turkey, wind energy has great potential. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Turkey theoretically has 160 TerraWatt hours (TWh) a year of wind potential, which is about twice as much as the current electricity consumption of Turkey. The technical potential of Turkey's wind energy is approximately 88,000 MW, its total established power is only 18.9 MW according to data for 2001. Turkey had a share of 0.11% in Europe's installed capacity in 2001. As seen in the table, the installed capacity of Turkey's wind energy has increased from 9 MW in 1998 to19 MW in 2001. But the installed wind energy capacity is very small.