A Review of Price Supports for Electricity Generation Based on Renewable Energy Sources in Turkey: A Comparative Analysis

Countries are incentivising electricity generation based on renewable energy sources to prevent increases in import dependencies in energy sector and negative developments that threaten the future of the world, such as global warming and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. These incentives are implemented through various policies enacted by governments. Policies such as policies to restrict carbon emissions, tax credits for facilities based on renewable energy sources, policies requiring electricity generation to be based on renewable energy sources at certain rates, price supports and supporting renewable energy sector through auctions are the most applied incentives in the world. In this study, the price supports applied in Turkey in order to increase electricity generation based on renewable energy sources are analyzed. In this analysis which is made by demonstrating changing policies of price incentive since the past comparatively, it is seen that price supports decreased at very high rates for facilities operating from July 2021. The basis of the decrease is that the price supports given to electricity generation based on renewable energy sources with the latest regulation begin to be paid in Turkish Lira instead of US dollars. In recent years, the rapid rise in the Dollar/Turkish Lira exchange rate has caused new price supports to fall by up to 80% in the face of the price support that is still being implemented for production facilities that have been operational before July 2021.