Contribution project

From imports to independence – wind energy in Balıkesir

Türkiye, Balikesir

ClimatePartner ID: 1705

Project details

Wind energyGet to know the project

The Turkish province of Balıkesir lies nestled between the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. As part of the Marmara region, it is known for its diverse landscapes, agricultural productivity, and thermal springs. Thanks to its coastal location, Balıkesir is also one of the windiest regions in Turkey – ideal conditions for the expansion of wind power.

And such expansion is urgently needed. Turkey is facing a major energy policy challenge: due to economic growth and a rising population, energy demand has increased significantly over the past two decades. In 2023, over 70 percent of the energy consumed in Turkey was imported – a 141 percent increase since the year 2000 (International Energy Agency, 2023). Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas account for more than 80 percent of Turkey’s energy supply (ibid.).

This is where this climate project comes into play. Since 2015, seven wind turbines with a total capacity of 10MWe have been generating electricity from wind energy on a mountain ridge near Ortamandıra in the province of Balıkesir. The facility feeds approximately 37,900 MWh of electricity into the Turkish power grid annually, thereby reducing dependency on imports and fossil fuels. Each year, the project saves around 24,560 tons of carbon emissions.

The impact of the project goes beyond climate action: it creates jobs, strengthens the regional economy, and promotes technology transfer for renewable energy in Turkey.

24,566 t CO₂Estimated annual emissions reductions

Project Standard

The project contributes to the the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

How wind energy contributes to climate action

As the name suggests, wind turbines use the power of the wind to generate energy. During this process, a generator located inside the wind turbine converts kinetic energy into electrical energy. As energy is still mainly generated from fossil fuels in many areas around the world, clean wind energy can replace some of this fossil, high-emission energy and verifiably save CO₂ emissions.

In most cases, the sustainably generated electricity from the wind power projects is fed into a regional power grid, which diversifies the power supply and improves energy security in regions that are frequently affected by power shortages and outages. A project often creates increased job opportunities for the local population and the area can be used for additional activities, such as agriculture. Wind power projects make an important contribution to a clean energy supply worldwide and contribute to sustainable development with respect to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Wind energy projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with international standards.

The project aims to contribute to these United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Project facts

Climate projects generally fall into one of three groups: carbon reduction, carbon removal, or carbon avoidance. Carbon reduction projects reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by a specific activity (e.g., improved cookstoves). Carbon removal projects remove carbon from the atmosphere by sequestering it in carbon sinks (e.g., reforestation). Carbon avoidance projects avoid greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmosphere (e.g., protecting forests from deforestation with REDD+ projects).

All climate projects are based on international standards. They set processes and requirements which carbon projects must fulfill to be recognised as a proven method of reducing carbon emissions.

Climate projects demonstrably reduce, remove, or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. This is achieved with various technologies, ranging from nature-based solutions to social impact projects and renewable energies.

Most standards on the voluntary carbon market list their projects in public registries. The registries are used to store project data and track issuances and retirements of verified emission reductions. The registry ID can be used to identify projects in the standard registry.

Check out this project

Climate projects go through third-party validation and verification. Verification happens regularly after each monitoring period. A validation and verification body checks and assesses whether the values and project activities stated in the monitoring report are correct and verifies them. As with validation, visits to the project site are often part of the process.

Climate projects go through third-party validation and verification. Validation happens early in the project life cycle and ensures that the project design is in line with current processes and requirements. This phase often also involves field visits with on-site interviews and analyses. Auditors are accredited, impartial assessors who have to be approved as a validation and verification body (VVB) by the standards body.

This figure shows the estimated annual emission reductions calculated before the project started. The actual number of emissions saved in each monitoring period may differ. The background to this process is that in order to be registered as a climate project, the project operator must submit the calculation of the estimated emissions savings using the ex-ante methodology in a Project Design Document (PDD), which is similar to a business plan. This calculation is validated by an independent auditor. The values determined in the PDD are recalculated during regular monitoring periods based on actual project performance, documented in a monitoring report, and verified again by independent auditors at the end of the monitoring period to ensure a robust process. Independent verification thus provides ex-post verification of actual emission reductions. Verified emission reductions are not distributed until the savings have actually been made.

* For certified projects only: the project-related information on this page is based on the documents in the register.

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