Türkiye targets 1 GW AI data centre power by 2030 with low-carbon energy

What happened

Türkiye's National AI Action Plan integrates energy and grid infrastructure planning with artificial intelligence deployment targets. By 2030, the country aims to establish 1 gigawatt of installed data centre capacity, supported by at least 10 terawatt-hours of annual low-carbon electricity procurement. Long-term power purchase agreements will enforce a minimum 60 per cent share of renewable and nuclear generation.

A computation strategy is under development to determine both the power requirement for AI capacity and the low-carbon electricity share. The National AI Council will oversee alignment of AI infrastructure's rising energy demand with the national grid. Energy projections, grid connection capacities, renewable and nuclear matching scenarios, and waste heat recovery potential will inform the siting and capacity planning of AI Growth Zones.

The plan also envisages mobilising at least $10 billion in private sector funding for data centres, cloud platforms and AI infrastructure by 2030.

Why it matters

Co-ordinated energy and IT infrastructure investment reduces grid stress and enables long-term electricity demand commitments to underpin renewable and nuclear project financing. Gökberk Bilgin, Secretary General of the Digitalization in Energy Association, noted that 1 gigawatt represents a manageable scale within Türkiye's annual energy balance, but its impact depends on regional distribution and existing grid capacity at each site. Concentrating demand at a single connection point could require substantial new transformer stations or transmission lines; dispersing deployments across regions mitigates such bottlenecks.

Regional variability matters: areas with high renewable potential gain an energy advantage, yet this must be weighed against fibre infrastructure and skilled labour availability. Bilgin stated that the 60 per cent low-carbon requirement is achievable but will not occur automatically within the current grid mix. New renewable supply contracts, renewable energy certificates, and verification mechanisms for Akkuyu nuclear power—once operational—will be necessary to redirect or create low-carbon generation explicitly for AI workloads, rather than merely reassigning existing output on paper.

The timing of matching (annual versus hourly) also matters: annual alignment satisfies the 60 per cent floor but does not guarantee continuous low-carbon operation. The $10 billion investment wave could accelerate solar, wind and storage financing through long-term demand signals, while distributed campus buildouts—from transformer stations through high-voltage lines to local networks—create broad infrastructure gains. If Türkiye exports cloud and AI services globally, the multiplier effect on the technology ecosystem will expand significantly.

What's next

By 2030, the 1 gigawatt capacity and 10 terawatt-hour procurement targets take effect. Long-term electricity supply contracts with 60 per cent low-carbon content must be negotiated and locked in. Akkuyu nuclear generation is expected to underpin new nuclear supply arrangements and verification frameworks by that date.