Turkish Energy Minister: Coal Electricity Reached 33.9% of Output and Will Decline Until 2053

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Karagöl announced that coal provided 33.9% of Turkey's total electricity production during the past year, amounting to 120.86 billion kilowatt-hours, of which 44.26 billion came from domestic coal (12.4%) and 76.59 billion from imported coal (21.5%).

This came in the minister's response to a parliamentary question submitted by Deputy Yassin Ozturk of the Good Party (İYİ) regarding Denizli province. The response indicated that total hard coal consumption reached 44.2 million tons last year, with thermal power plants accounting for 26.4 million tons of that, representing 62.4% of total consumption.

The response stated that the Ministry of Energy has concluded contracts with private companies operating power plants that rely on domestic coal or a mix of domestic and imported coal, covering the period from October 2025 through December 2029.

Karagöl defended maintaining coal power plants, citing the network's need for "flexible baseload power and capacity ready for immediate operation" during peak demand periods, emphasizing that these plants are "not an alternative to renewable energy, but a complementary element that reduces dependence on external sources and balances grid frequency."

According to the National Energy Plan draft, coal's contribution to output will decline gradually until 2053, when the operational lifespans of these power plants end.