Türkiye’s plan to mobilize roughly $108 billion for power generation and transmission by 2035 is more than an energy-sector spending target. It is a test of whether the country can turn fast-rising electricity demand, renewable-resource depth and its position between Europe, Asia and the Middle East into a bankable platform for foreign direct investment.
A $108 Billion Grid And Generation Bet
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told Anadolu Agency on September 16, 2026 that Türkiye plans about $108 billion in investment by 2035, split between roughly $80 billion for new power generation and $28 billion for transmission infrastructure. The headline target is 120 gigawatts of installed wind and solar capacity under the Renewable Energy 2035 Roadmap.
The number is large, but the underlying pressure is straightforward. Türkiye is electrifying an economy that is still expanding, urbanizing and industrializing. According to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, gross electricity consumption rose 2.1 percent in 2025 to 360.9 terawatt-hours, while electricity generation reached 362.9 terawatt-hours. The ministry’s National Energy Plan projects consumption of 455.3 terawatt-hours in 2030 and 510.5 terawatt-hours in 2035.
That means Türkiye is planning for a system that must add generation, move power over longer distances, absorb variable renewable output, and support new loads from data centers, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and air conditioning. Bayraktar framed the grid as the backbone of this transition, noting to Anadolu that transmission lines expanded by 80 percent between 2005 and 2025 to 77,000 kilometers. Over the same period, transmission substations owned by TEİAŞ increased from 512 to 824, transmission transformers rose from 1,096 to 2,215, and transformer capacity climbed 226 percent to 236,913 megavolt-amperes.
For investors, the key point is that the opportunity is not limited to power-plant equity. It extends to grid equipment, high-voltage engineering, storage, digital grid management, project finance, land development, environmental permitting, local manufacturing and long-term operations.
Renewables Are Scaling, But Coal Still Anchors The System
Türkiye has already become one of Europe’s larger electricity markets. The Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Investment Office says the country ranked sixth in Europe by installed electricity capacity in 2025, with nearly 120 GW. The Ministry of Energy reported that installed capacity reached 126,944 MW by the end of August 2026. Solar represented 22 percent of installed capacity, hydropower 25.5 percent, natural gas 19.5 percent, coal 17.4 percent, wind 12.2 percent, geothermal 1.4 percent and other sources 2.1 percent.
Generation tells a more balanced, and more challenging, story. In 2025, the ministry said coal supplied 33.6 percent of electricity, natural gas 23 percent, hydropower 15.8 percent, wind 10.9 percent, solar 10.5 percent, geothermal 3.2 percent and other sources 3.1 percent. Ember’s Türkiye Electricity Review 2026 similarly found that wind and solar reached a record 22 percent of generation in 2025, while coal remained the largest source at about 34 percent.
The direction of travel is clear. Solar capacity has surged, helped by commercial and industrial self-consumption projects, and wind has continued to expand in western provinces with strong resource quality. The Investment Office reported 22.9 GW of solar and more than 13.5 GW of wind by mid-2025, plus around 33 GW of battery-integrated wind and solar projects in pre-licensing. The International Energy Agency’s policy database, updated in June 2026, records Türkiye’s 2035 roadmap target of 120 GW of cumulative solar and wind capacity, with an estimated $80 billion investment requirement.
The speed of implementation remains the main question. Ember has argued that Türkiye needs to add roughly 8 GW of wind and solar each year to stay on track for the 2035 target. Recent additions are strong by historical Turkish standards, but still require acceleration. That creates openings for experienced international developers, equipment suppliers and financiers, but it also raises execution risk around permitting, grid connection, land access, local-content rules and currency exposure.
Transmission Is Becoming The Strategic Bottleneck
The 2035 plan places unusual emphasis on the grid because renewable investment only becomes commercially useful when generation can be connected, dispatched and paid for. Anadolu quoted Bayraktar as saying Türkiye plans high-voltage direct current corridors totaling about 9,580 kilometers and 28 GW of capacity, alongside 15,000 kilometers of new alternating-current transmission lines.
The IEA’s policy database describes a broader green transmission infrastructure program, including 14,700 kilometers of HVDC lines, 40 GW of capacity, about 15,000 kilometers of AC lines and 40 HVDC converter centers. It also cites planned interconnection capacity of 6,750 MW for exports and 6,600 MW for imports. The difference between the Anadolu interview and the IEA summary appears to reflect either different project scopes or updated planning assumptions, a reminder that investors should verify the precise tender, connection and technical documentation for each project rather than relying on headline figures.
Grid modernization is already attracting multilateral capital. In September 2026, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced a $207 million loan to Enerjisa Enerji to modernize and expand distribution networks in the Başkent, Ayedaş and Toroslar regions. The EBRD said the financing would improve reliability, reduce distribution losses and support renewable integration. Şule Kılıç, the EBRD’s Director for Energy Eurasia, said strengthening electricity networks is becoming increasingly important as Türkiye advances its energy transition.
For foreign investors, this points to a second layer of opportunity beyond generation auctions. Smart-grid systems, digital substations, grid cybersecurity, demand-response tools, battery storage, engineering services and grid-loss reduction technologies will become increasingly relevant. These areas require careful market entry strategy, because buyers include regulated distribution companies, TEİAŞ-linked transmission projects, municipalities, industrial zones and private generation operators, each with different procurement and compliance requirements.
Auctions, Incentives And Bankability
Türkiye’s Renewable Energy Resource Area model, known as YEKA, remains central to large-scale renewable allocation. Enerdata reported in July 2026 that Türkiye launched 2.4 GW of new YEKA auctions, structured as 21 separate tenders. The package included 1.5 GW of onshore wind across Sivas, Balıkesir, Manisa and Kütahya, and 900 MW of solar across provinces including Ankara, Konya, Malatya, Mardin, Diyarbakır and Elazığ. Enerdata said the maximum bid price was set at 5.5 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, with floors of 3.25 euro cents for solar and 3.5 euro cents for wind, and applications due on October 13, 2026.
Legal and tax details matter. Rödl & Partner’s October 2025 analysis of YEKA tenders noted that eligible participants can include Turkish joint-stock or limited liability companies, joint ventures, or foreign corporations. However, foreign winners are required to establish a Turkish company by contract signing, fully owned by the foreign investor, with specific articles of association and capital requirements linked to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority’s investment-value calculation. Rödl & Partner also noted that the contracts use euro pricing and include ICC arbitration clauses for cross-border transactions.
The commercial framework is evolving to improve bankability. Enerdata reported that selected solar developers in the 2026 auction may sell power on the open market for up to 60 months before entering a 20-year power purchase agreement, while wind developers receive a 72-month market period before the same long-term PPA structure. That can strengthen early revenue potential, but it also exposes projects to merchant-price assumptions, balancing costs and financing discipline.
This is where advisory execution becomes material rather than cosmetic. Market entry work must identify whether a foreign investor is best positioned as a developer, EPC contractor, equipment supplier, storage partner, O&M provider or industrial self-consumption financier. Incorporation and corporate structuring determine tender eligibility and banking readiness. Investment incentives analysis is needed to assess YEKDEM, VAT and customs-duty treatment, regional incentives, local-content advantages and potential strategic-investment status. Legal and tax compliance becomes central once auction documents, licenses, environmental approvals, land rights, grid-connection agreements and foreign-exchange exposures interact.
Energy Security, CBAM And Industrial Competitiveness
The 2035 investment program also reflects Türkiye’s energy-security agenda. The International Energy Agency says countries dependent on imported fossil fuels are exposed to supply disruption and external price shocks. Ember estimated in 2026 that oil, gas and coal still make up a substantial energy-import burden for Türkiye, with oil and gas dominating the bill. Reducing imported-fuel exposure is a fiscal and current-account issue as much as a climate issue.
The industrial angle is equally important. The European Commission’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism entered its definitive regime on January 1, 2026. It applies to carbon-intensive imports including cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen, requiring importers to account for embedded emissions through reporting and CBAM certificates. For Turkish exporters selling into the EU, cleaner electricity can become part of a competitiveness strategy, especially in sectors such as steel, aluminium, automotive components, chemicals and building materials.
Türkiye is responding with policy moves beyond renewables. Balkan Green Energy News reported that Bayraktar said Türkiye plans to launch a national carbon trading center and market within Energy Exchange Istanbul in 2026. The same report said the government expected 2,000 MW of energy storage to be commissioned in 2026, after permits for 33,500 MW of storage had been issued. These initiatives are still subject to implementation risk, but they suggest that the power-sector buildout is increasingly linked to carbon accounting, export competitiveness and industrial policy.
Foreign manufacturers considering Türkiye as a regional production base therefore need to assess electricity sourcing at the site-selection stage. Access to renewable power, grid reliability, private-wire or self-consumption options, carbon reporting readiness and import-export compliance can affect both operating costs and EU market access. Expo and trade-fair representation may also matter for equipment manufacturers and service providers trying to enter procurement networks in a market where energy fairs, ministry events and industrial-zone relationships often shape deal flow.
What This Means For Foreign Investors
Türkiye’s $108 billion plan creates a substantial FDI opening, but it is not a simple renewables gold rush. Investors will be entering a regulated market where commercial success depends on aligning tender strategy, grid availability, land rights, licensing, tax treatment, financing currency, local partnerships and government interfaces.
The practical first step is market entry analysis that separates utility-scale YEKA projects from distributed solar, storage, grid equipment, digital systems and industrial decarbonization services. The second is incorporation and corporate structuring, since tender participation and contract signing may require a Turkish entity with specific capital and governance terms. The third is incentives mapping, covering renewable support schemes, customs and VAT treatment, regional incentives, local-content rules and potential strategic-project benefits.
Legal and tax compliance will be decisive throughout the project life cycle, from preliminary licenses and environmental approvals to land acquisition, construction permits, grid-connection agreements, employment rules and transfer-pricing documentation. Government relations and regulatory liaison will also matter, because power projects sit at the intersection of the Energy Ministry, EMRA, TEİAŞ, distribution companies, municipalities, organized industrial zones and environmental authorities.
For investors selling equipment or services rather than developing assets, import-export facilitation and expo representation can open routes into procurement channels, while project management is needed to coordinate site work, suppliers, permits, grid deadlines and local stakeholders. Türkiye’s 2035 plan is investable, but only for companies that treat the grid, regulation and execution environment as seriously as the resource potential.