Türkiye’s operational solar-module capacity tops 13.2 GW

At a factory scale few European solar markets can match, Türkiye now has approximately 13.2 GW of operational solar-module manufacturing capacity. Sinovoltaics CEO Dricus de Rooij told pv magazine that the capacity is spread across more than 20 manufacturers, making Türkiye’s total larger than the combined capacity of Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands.

The largest producers include Kalyon PV/Hanwha Q Cells at 1.9 GW, CW Enerji at 1.8 GW, and Kıvanç Enerji and Schmid-Pekintaş at 1.2 GW each. Sinovoltaics’ updated pan-European Solar Supply Chain Map covers 178 production sites and projects across approximately 25 countries; it puts the combined current module manufacturing capacity of all European countries at no more than 9.7 GW.

The domestic market cannot absorb the whole Turkish fleet. Annual domestic photovoltaic demand is approximately 4 GW, so manufacturers have been pursuing exports, including to the United States and the European Union. US trade policy has made Turkish-made modules attractive relative to Chinese-origin products and some Southeast Asian supply routes, but de Rooij warns that the gap is not exports alone: much of the capacity is likely underused, as running below rated capacity has become standard amid global module oversupply.

The limitation is higher up the supply chain. Türkiye has around 2.5 GW of cell manufacturing capacity, concentrated in Kalyon PV/Hanwha Q Cells and HT Solar, while its current wafer capacity is around 1.2 GW, all attributed to CW Enerji. Several announced cell projects are not yet operational and are targeted to come online between 2027 and 2030; CW Enerji is targeting wafer capacity of 5 GW by 2030.

So what changes in practice? Türkiye already offers solar developers and module buyers a substantial manufacturing base with potential export reach, especially where supply origins affect purchasing choices. But a large module footprint is not the same as a fully domestic solar chain: limited cell and wafer manufacturing capacity constrains how much of the final product can be made entirely in Türkiye, and the exact export volume remains uncertain because no single trade dataset cleanly captures free-zone and company-level shipments.