Electricity consumption in Turkey is rising at between 8 and 10 per cent a year, and is expected to increase at much the same rate for at least the next two decades - creating a big headache for officials. Current estimates predict that, with demand rising faster than the pace at which power plants are being constructed, the country could face a power shortage. As it strives to tap all possible resources to meet demand and ensure there is no future crisis, Turkey is embarking on an ambitious plan, overseen by the energy ministry, to make use of its abundant wind resources. If the proposals are fully realised, this will make Turkey home to one of the biggest wind-power sectors in the world. Hilmi Guler, Turkey's energy minister, says the appeal of wind power is self evident. "It's renewable, it doesn't harm the environment, and, most importantly, it's free," he says. With gas prices soaring, Turkey has no choice but to seek alternative energy sources, he says. The country's electricity sector is dependent on imported natural gas supplies for about half of its power needs. So far, only a handful of small wind farms have made it off the drawing board. Currently, Turkey has 10 wind farms, with a total capacity of 240MW. By the end of this year there could be 16 farms with a capacity of 420MW - still very low by European standards. In an effort to lure investors into the sector, the energy ministry last year published a national wind atlas, detailing average wind speeds across the country. When a tender was later opened by the energy regulator for new windfarm projects, there were 750 applications offering a total generating capacity of 78,000MW - almost double the installed capacity of all Turkey's existing power plants. A number of international wind-farm operators were among the applicants, including Spain's Iberdrola and BP, which submitted six projects totalling 750MW. The scale of interest proves, if nothing else, that Turkey offers significant potential for wind power. Of the 78,000MW in the application, 30,000MW is in applications competing to use the same site. Mr Guler says that, at the moment, the country could support about 10,000MW-15,000MW of wind power. The main constraint on expansion is the need to maintain a minimum "base load" of power generated from resources that, unlike wind, do not fluctuate. Industry executives are more cautious. They point to structural problems that threaten to limit the rapid establishment of wind farms. "There's a global bottleneck in the supply of the actual wind-generating equipment, with buyers having to wait two years or more," says Murat Durak, head of the Turkish Wind Power Association, which represents existing and potential investors. Mr Durak says that, while several Turkish companies have recently taken up a call from the ministry to start manufacturing turbines for wind farms, which should help reduce supply times, there is still a global shortage of the blades that capture the wind power and the special gearboxes required to operate them. Equally serious is the problem of Turkey's power transmission system, which was not designed to handle the fluctuating output of wind farms. "We have great wind, but a poor transmission system," Mr Durak says. "And it [the transmission system] is at its weakest around the coast where the wind speeds are highest, and away from the regions of highest demand." Officials are aware of the problem. Turkey's energy regulator announced recently that it would be allocating licences for the 750 applicants for new wind projects on a regional basis, taking into account the level of investment companies are willing to make in new transmission infrastructure. Industry executives say the regional allocation of licences can help, and that generators will pay for new transmission infrastructure. But they also complain about the bureaucratic headaches involved in setting up wind farms, which add to their cost. "The amount of red tape means it takes two to three years to move from a green-field site to generation," Mr Durak says. The issue probably means that few, if any, of the planned new wind farms will be operational in time to offset the expected shortfall in generation. It also means that, in the short term, Turkey may be forced to meet surging demand for power by importing electricity as well as gas. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008