Still Gripped by Violent Protest, Turkey Begins a Massive Push for Solar Power

Across Turkey, in city streets and public spaces, mass demonstrations are still breaking out. But a nationwide push for cleaner energy is nonetheless continuing as planned. It seems that the state likes solar power better than social media—it may not tolerate dissident Twitter use, but it is making an aggressive, democratically-structured push to grow renewable energy.

As part of its effort to generate 30% of its energy from carbon-free sources by 2030, Turkey has implemented an agressive feed-in tariff (FIT) system. FITs reward individuals and small companies for producing solar power and making it available to the grid.

Apparently, the terms of Turkeys nascent FIT were so alluring that despite the ongoing turmoil, 500 investors filed applications for new solar projects—enough to produce 9 gigawatts of power. That's enough to provide electricity to some 7-9 million homes.

PV Magazine reports that "496 applications with close to 8.9 GW have been submitted to the Turkish Energy Regulatory Authority (EPDK)."

Interestingly, almost all of the investors were Turkish citizens. Only a handful of applications came in from outside investors. Ironically, the FIT is one of the most democratic energy production schemes, as it places the incentive to produce energy in the hands of communities and private citizens, not centralized utility monopolies.

It is, in other words, a curious mechanism for an authoritarian-leaning leader like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to use to spur clean energy production. But it doesn't change the fact that it's good idea. Despite Erdoğan's other failings—and they are legion—his clean energy effort places Turkey ahead of the United States in the race to transition away from climate-scorching fossil fuels.