Türkiye ranked second in Europe last year after increasing its total installed hydropower capacity, according to the “2026 World Hydropower Outlook” report published by the International Hydropower Association (IHA).
With the second-largest installed hydropower capacity in Europe after Norway, Türkiye consolidated its position among the leading countries in both Europe and the world with around 32,294 megawatts of capacity, surpassing advanced economies such as France, Spain and Italy.
According to the report, Türkiye ranked as the world’s ninth-largest country in terms of hydropower capacity, following China, Brazil, the United States, Canada, India, Russia, Japan and Norway.
The report showed that global installed hydropower capacity reached 1,469 gigawatts last year, including 1,269 gigawatts from conventional hydropower plants and 201 gigawatts from pumped-storage hydropower facilities.
A total of 28 gigawatts of new hydropower capacity was commissioned during the year, while pumped-storage plants recorded the highest annual capacity increase in their history.
Global hydropower generation totaled 4,495 terawatt-hours last year. This amount approached the combined electricity generation of wind and solar power worldwide, once again demonstrating that hydropower remains the world’s largest source of renewable electricity.
A separate report released earlier this month by international energy research and analysis firm BloombergNEF (BNEF), titled “Turkey Transition Factbook 2026,” noted that Türkiye ranked fifth globally in wind power installations and tenth in solar power installations last year.
Türkiye is expected to bring a total of 25 gigawatts of new wind power capacity online between 2026 and 2035. Renewable Energy Resource Area (YEKA) projects are projected to account for around 37% of new wind installations during the period.
The construction of nearly 19 gigawatts of licensed energy storage-integrated wind power projects is also expected to significantly increase Türkiye’s renewable energy capacity.
Last year, Türkiye ranked 10th globally in solar power installations with 6.4 gigawatts of newly added capacity. The country’s installed solar power capacity is projected to nearly double by 2030.
