The UAE and Turkey are deepening their clean energy cooperation, planning to jointly build a large-scale integrated solar and energy storage power plant, supporting Turkey’s goal of quadrupling its renewable energy capacity.
Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy developer Masdar and the Turkish government are in the final stages of a $1 billion project to construct a 1.1 GW solar power plant equipped with an energy storage system in Bor, Niğde Province, central Turkey.
This project comes as the Turkish government pushes forward with its energy transition, aiming to increase the nation’s installed renewable energy capacity from 30 GW to 120 GW by 2035. The announcement followed a visit to Turkey by a UAE delegation led by Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, whose primary mission was to explore joint investment opportunities in renewable energy and energy storage.
The discussions covered solar power, onshore and offshore wind power, pumped-storage hydropower, and technology transfer plans, laying out a roadmap for deepening strategic cooperation between the two countries in the clean energy sector.
Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar stated on the social platform X (formerly Twitter) that Turkey aims to deepen strategic cooperation in renewable energy by signing an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UAE. This would strengthen the national energy infrastructure, advance the 2053 net-zero emission target, and set a regional example for energy transition.
The talks also explored potential investments in offshore wind farms, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines, and pumped-storage hydropower projects.
According to official Turkish estimates, achieving the goal of quadrupling renewable energy capacity will require an investment of approximately $108 billion. The solar-plus-storage project in Bor exemplifies Turkey’s ambition to accelerate the deployment of solar energy, with plans encompassing both photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies.
This initiative continues the recent momentum of cooperation between the two countries. Previously, the UAE and Turkey signed a $27 billion framework agreement in 2023, leading to an MoU between Masdar and the Turkish Ministry of Energy. This series of agreements signals a full-scale acceleration of cooperation between the two nations in clean energy and energy security.
