By: AGBI

Turkey is nearing completion of a $1 billion investment from UAE-based renewables major Masdar, energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said.

The Turkish minister met Mohamed Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, to discuss a joint investment in solar, onshore and offshore wind projects, pumped-storage hydroelectricity, and technology transfer initiatives, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

“We are in the final stage of a 1,100 megawatt pumped-storage solar power plant in Nigde Bor, worth approximately $1 billion,” Bayraktar said.

Bayraktar said that potential ventures in offshore wind, high-voltage direct current transmission systems and additional pumped-storage hydroelectric facilities were also on the agenda.

In July 2023 Turkey and the UAE signed 13 agreements worth $51 billion during President Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to the Gulf country.

This month the central banks of the UAE and Turkey signed a bilateral currency-swap agreement, aiming to boost trade and drive economic growth.

According to the Anadolu news agency, Turkey’s exports to the UAE rose 65 percent year on year in the first half of 2025, thanks to an easing of trade procedures under the two countries’ comprehensive economic partnership agreement.

The UAE and Turkey signed the Cepa in March 2023, expecting the value of non-oil bilateral trade to reach $40 billion within the next five years.

Ankara last October unveiled its medium-term energy programme, which called for investments of $80 billion to quadruple renewables output to 120,000MW by 2035.

Under the plan, Turkey’s energy ministry is committed to boosting renewables’ share of capacity to 65 percent by that time, when it will also start to phase out the country’s coal-fired power stations.