In Turkey, power generation from wind energy has been obtained since 1998. The regions, annual wind speed of which is 8.5 m/s and above, have the wind energy potential of 5,000 MW at least, and the ones where the annual wind speed is above 7 m/s have the wind energy potential of 48,000 MW at the least according to the Turkey Wind Energy Potential Atlas (REPA) made in 2007. According to the data by the General Directorate of Renewable Energy, a total of 42 of 81 provinces in Turkey have an economic potential in terms of investing in wind although each province of Turkey has a potential for the wind power plants. Economic potential of wind ranges from 40,000 to 48,000 MW accordingly. In Turkey, approximately 8 billion kWh electric power are generated annually from the wind power plants in-service with an installed capacity of 3,500 MW. This portion constitutes 3 percent of power consumption in Turkey, which annually amounts to 260 billion kWh. In other words, 70 percent of the annual power consumption in Ankara is generated by the wind power plants. Turkey aims at obtaining an installed capacity of 20,000 MW for the wind plants in 2023. However, Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) has not received any license application for the wind power plants since November 2007. This year, it is expected that the applications for the wind power plants will be accepted in April according to the connectivity capacity issued by TEİAŞ amongst the ones which can provide at least 1-year measurement values. THE FIRST LICENSES FOR SOLAR ENERGY WERE ISSUED It can be said that Turkey is in its infancy for the solar energy which is a more recent energy source compared to the wind energy in Turkey. Turkey has a huge potential of solar energy as it has for the wind energy. According to the research based on the data collected during 1966-1982, sunshine duration of Turkey reaches annually 2640 hours in average. This amounts to average 7.2 hours of sunshine duration per day. Nevertheless, power generation from solar energy in Turkey is still pretty limited today. Total installed capacity of solar energy across the world is expected to reach 1,776 GW in 2017 whereas it was 137 GW in 2013 according to the most recent data by European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA). Although Turkey’s installed capacity potential of solar energy amounts to 450-500 GW, the installed capacity in 2013 was 20 MW only. Installed capacity in Turkey is expected to exceed 3 GW in 2023. The first applications for licensed solar energy plants were made in June 2013 besides 20 MW installed capacity, all plants of which are unlicensed. Applications for establishing plants of more than 8,900 MW for the capacity of 600 MW announced within this scope. Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) issued the first pre-licenses for the solar power plants to be established in Erzurum and Elazığ. Projects by Solentegre and Halk Enerji, which achieved in the competitions held by Türkiye Elektrik İletim A.Ş. (TEİAŞ) in May 2014, were entitled to receive pre-license. Selim Akın, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Akfen Holding, states that they will build a 8 MW solar power plant with an investment of around Euro 8 million in Elazığ. Emphasizing that Akfen Holding will continue its investments in renewable energy sources, Mr. Akın continues as follows: “We have not experienced any problems with the public relations. EMRA, the Ministry and the specialists have helped us a lot. We consider completing our investment in Elazığ till the summer. At the Group, we are planning to increase our solar energy investments to 100 MW.” The plant to be established is expected to generate power of around 14 million kWh annually.