Electricity Consumption and Economic Growth in Turkey: A Case Study

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to investigate the increasing electricity consumption with the growth of the economy in Turkey. With its emerging and rapidly growing economy and with a population of 73 million people, Turkey has today become the world's 17th largest economy. The country's electricity consumption has risen rapidly as a result of social and economic development. The electricity industry is a large, high-growth sector in the Turkish economy. The industry contributes significantly to the country's GDP and is a 12 billion US dollars industry at current end-user prices. The sector's share in the Turkish economy has been growing rapidly, given the 8% per annum growth in electricity demand over the past two decades. Total investment required for power plants and distribution lines up until the year 2010 is expected to be around US$45 billion, US$19 billion of which will be under the Build, Operate and Transfer and Build, Own, Operate models.