The Share of Renewable Energy Sources in Total Energy Supply: An Examination of Türkiye
Chapter from the book:
Durgun,
B.
&
Durgun,
F.
(eds.)
2023.
Macro Aspects of Energy Economics.
Synopsis
Energy is the irreplaceable input for all sectors and demand for it increases in parallel with technological development, increasing population, and higher standards of living. Domestic resources often become insufficient to meet this increasingly high demand. Moreover, fossil fuels are still the dominant resource that is used to meet energy demand. In addition, fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate change, which is the crucial problem of the World. Therefore, the importance of renewable energy sources in the country’s policies comes to the forefront. For this purpose, this study analyzes Türkiye’s energy resources and the share of renewable energy resources in the total energy supply using the descriptive analysis method. According to the results, although there has been an increase in renewable energy resources over the years, there is no significant change in the share of renewable energy resources in the total energy supply due to the increasing total energy supply. The share of renewable energy supply, which was %18.75 in 1990, increased to %16.21 in 2021. On the other hand, the share of fossil energy resources maintains its dominant position in Türkiye's energy supply, with an average of %85.9. It is remarkable that oil, which had the largest share with %45.44 in 1990, was replaced by natural gas with %31.01 in 2021. Similarly, biofuel and waste energy resources decreased from %13.99 to %2.74 and were replaced by solar and wind energy. Due to these transitions between fossil fuels and renewable energy sources, the share of renewable energy in Türkiye's energy supply has not changed.