Key facts
- Bayraktar said Turkey plans to meet all petroleum and natural gas consumption from domestic resources.
- Turkey aims to quadruple installed solar and wind capacity to 175 GW by 2040.
- The minister said renewables would reach 77% of installed electricity generation capacity.
- Turkey targets 10 GW of nuclear capacity; Akkuyu, built by Russia's Rosatom, has a planned 4,800 MW.
- Bayraktar said energy efficiency policies are expected to bring $240 billion in savings.
- Turkey targets 20 million electric vehicles by 2040, the minister said.
Turkey is targeting total energy infrastructure investment of $500 billion by 2040, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said on November 5, 2026. The plan is aimed at reducing the country's dependence on imported coal, oil and gas, which in recent years has cost as much as $70 billion a year.
Under the plan, Turkey intends to meet all of its petroleum and natural gas consumption from domestic resources, including gas in the Black Sea. Installed solar and wind capacity would rise fourfold to 175 GW by 2040, and renewables would account for 77% of installed electricity generation capacity, Bayraktar said.
Turkey also targets 10 GW of nuclear power capacity. Its first nuclear plant, Akkuyu, is being built by Russia's Rosatom with a total capacity of 4,800 MW and is expected to meet around 10% of Turkish power demand.
In transport, the plan targets 20 million electric vehicles by 2040, and Bayraktar said energy efficiency policies are expected to bring $240 billion in savings. Energy think tank Ember says Turkey ranked fourth in Europe in EV sales last year, with 190,000 fully electric vehicles sold, or 17% of total new car sales. Ember data also shows solar and wind at about 22% of Turkish power, with coal the single biggest source at 34%.
Reuters calculated that electricity projects alone would require more than $200 billion of investment.