en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Turkish government has launched new tenders to add 900 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity and 1.5 gigawatts of wind power capacity, with projects to be built in the country's Renewable Energy Resource Zones (YEKA).
The application submission deadline for both solar photovoltaic and wind power projects is October 13. The ceiling price for all tenders is set at 0.055 euro cents per kilowatt-hour (equivalent to $0.0627/kWh). The floor price for solar projects is €0.0325/kWh, while for wind projects it is slightly higher at €0.035/kWh.
Under government regulations, project developers may sell electricity on the open market after securing a contract, before signing a 20-year power purchase agreement. Solar project operators can sell electricity for 60 months after signing the tender contract, while wind operators can do so for 72 months, after which the power purchase agreement takes effect.
All tenders are conducted within Turkey's YEKA regions, which are designated priority areas for new renewable energy installations to support national renewable energy deployment targets. According to tender requirements, new solar project applications must be submitted within ten designated YEKA regions. Among these, the central Ankara region will gain 370 MW of new capacity through two projects, the highest capacity among the ten YEKA regions.
The provinces of Mardin and Malatya will each host two new projects, with total capacities of 150 MW and 95 MW respectively. The southern province of Kahramanmaraş is the only YEKA designated for three new solar photovoltaic projects.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar stated: "We will continue to hold tenders totaling at least 2,000 megawatts annually for solar and wind power." He added that this tender will bring "new momentum" to the country's renewable energy sector.
The scale of this tender aligns with the 800 MW capacity awarded in the tender finalized last February, and is part of the government's plan to achieve 77 GW of operational solar photovoltaic capacity by 2035. The tender also includes a wind power component, with the government planning to award 1.5 GW of wind capacity across four YEKA regions; most of the capacity has been allocated to the western Balıkesir YEKA, where 685 MW of new wind capacity is available.
Bayraktar also expressed optimism about Turkey's ability to accelerate the pace of new renewable energy capacity additions to achieve the target of 120 GW of operational solar photovoltaic and wind capacity by 2035. "We will reach the 120,000 megawatt solar and wind energy target in a shorter time than 2035, and we have great potential in this regard," he said. "With the 2026 YEKA tender, we are opening a new investment period in the renewable energy sector."
However, data from think tank Ember indicates that Turkey needs to accelerate its renewable energy additions to meet these targets. According to Ember, Turkey's combined new solar and wind installations in 2025 reached 6.5 GW per year, below the 8 GW annual deployment needed to achieve the 2035 target.
