Energy & Natural Resources Law in Turkey for Foreign Investors

EPDK (Enerji Piyasası Düzenleme Kurumu, the Energy Market Regulatory Authority) is the regulator for electricity, natural gas, LPG and petroleum markets — it issues, amends and revokes market licences and supervises tariffs. MAPEG (Maden ve Petrol İşleri Genel Müdürlüğü) administers petroleum exploration and operation rights and mining licences. Energy and mining regulatory disputes are heard before the administrative courts and, on appeal, the Danıştay (Council of State), whose 8th Chamber regularly decides EPDK licensing cases.

For a wider read on where the sector is heading, see our overview of Turkish energy and natural resources law.

Electricity and renewables: pre-licence and licence under Law No. 6446

Most grid-connected generation in Turkey runs on a two-step licensing path under the Electricity Market Law No. 6446. First you obtain a pre-licence (önlisans), which gives you a defined window to complete the preparatory steps — securing land rights, the grid connection agreement, environmental approvals and project finance. Once those are done, the pre-licence converts into a generation licence (lisans), which authorises construction and operation.

Smaller and self-consumption plants — particularly rooftop and behind-the-meter solar below the statutory capacity threshold — can often proceed under the unlicensed generation regime, avoiding the full licence process. Choosing the right track at the outset shapes your whole timeline.

The activities themselves — generation, transmission, distribution, wholesale, retail supply and trading — each require their own licence type. We map your business model to the correct licence and prepare the EPDK application so it is not bounced for missing documents.

Renewable energy: YEKDEM support and YEKA capacity tenders

Turkey supports renewables through two distinct mechanisms, and investors routinely confuse them.

YEKDEM (Yenilenebilir Enerji Kaynaklarını Destekleme Mekanizması) is the renewable support scheme under the Renewable Energy Resources Law No. 5346 and the Electricity Market Law. It provides a guaranteed purchase price for eligible renewable generation for a defined support period, with a domestic-equipment top-up for locally manufactured components.

YEKA (Yenilenebilir Enerji Kaynak Alanları) is a competitive tender route for large-scale capacity, where the state allocates designated zones or quotas and the winning bid sets the price. YEKA projects typically carry local-content and sometimes local-manufacturing commitments.

Oil and gas: upstream licensing and the downstream market

Upstream oil and gas is governed by the Petroleum Law No. 6491, administered through MAPEG. The law sets out the regime for exploration and operation licences, the rights and obligations of the licence holder, the state's share of production, and the rules for transferring and surrendering rights. Securing acreage, complying with work programmes and managing the state interest are where most upstream disputes arise.

Downstream, the Natural Gas Market Law No. 4646 governs import, wholesale, distribution, storage and supply, with EPDK issuing the relevant market licences. Importers, distributors and suppliers each operate under their own licence and tariff rules.

For a deeper treatment of the upstream regime, see our Turkish oil and gas licensing guide.

Mining rights: exploration and operation licences under Law No. 3213

Mining is governed by the Mining Law No. 3213, the country's framework statute since 1985 and amended many times since. Rights are granted as exploration licences (arama ruhsatı) and operation licences (işletme ruhsatı), classified by mineral group, and administered by MAPEG. Holders owe the state a royalty (Devlet hakkı) and must meet activity, reporting and environmental conditions to keep the licence alive.

For foreign investors, the practical issues are the same as elsewhere in the sector: the entity that holds the licence, the security interests a lender can take over it, and the diligence needed before acquiring an existing licence rather than applying afresh.

Project development, EPC, PPAs and power-purchase arrangements

A licence is only the start. The economics of an energy project live in its contracts, and these are usually Turkish-law agreements that need to dovetail with the regulatory regime.

• Power purchase agreements (PPAs) — bilateral offtake with a corporate buyer or supplier, or participation in the support scheme.
• EPC and O&M contracts — engineering, procurement and construction, plus long-term operation and maintenance, with the right liability, delay and performance terms.
• Grid connection and land rights — connection agreements with the network operator and secure rights over the project site.
• Supply, equipment and interconnection agreements — turbines, panels, fuel supply and balancing arrangements.

We draft and negotiate these as power-purchase and EPC contracts built around your project, and we help secure the underlying land acquisition and site rights for the project, including usufruct and easements where outright purchase is not available.

Foreign-investor mechanics: structure, FDI, PoA and remote handling

Turkey treats foreign and domestic energy investors equally under its foreign direct investment rules — there is no general foreign-ownership cap on energy or mining companies, and profits and capital can be repatriated. What matters is getting the holding structure right.

Most licences must be held by a Turkish-registered company, so the first step is usually to set up the Turkish company that will hold the licence — typically a limited or joint-stock company sized to your project and tax position. We then complete the licensing in that entity's name.

If your entry is by acquiring an existing licensed company rather than building new, that becomes a corporate transaction — see how we handle merger control and competition clearance where deal size triggers a filing.

Permits, grid connection and environmental (ÇED) approvals

Between pre-licence and operation sits a stack of permits, and a gap in any one of them can stall the whole project. The main ones are:

• Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) — a positive ÇED decision, or a confirmed exemption, is a precondition for many projects.
• Grid connection agreement with the transmission or distribution operator, plus an allocated connection capacity.
• Zoning, construction and operation permits from the relevant municipality or ministry.
• Land and site rights — ownership, lease, usufruct or, on treasury or forest land, a specific allocation.

EPDK compliance, penalties and licence disputes before the Danıştay

Once you hold a licence, the regulator stays in the picture. EPDK supervises tariffs, reporting, market conduct and licence conditions, and it can impose administrative fines, suspend activity or revoke a licence for breach. Because these are administrative acts, they are challenged before the administrative courts — and EPDK licensing and penalty disputes reach the Danıştay, whose 8th Chamber continues to decide electricity-market cases through to the most recent terms.

We handle the full arc — responding to EPDK information requests and audits, contesting penalties, and pursuing annulment actions. Where a project dispute is contractual rather than regulatory, we also act in energy and construction arbitration, including international arbitration where the contract provides for it.

Common mistakes foreign developers make

The same avoidable problems recur, and most are cheaper to prevent than to litigate:

• Modelling on outdated support figures. YEKDEM prices, the payment currency and the support period have changed repeatedly — a business plan built on last year's tariff can be wrong by the time you commission.
• Letting pre-licence milestones slip. Each preparatory obligation has its own deadline; missing one can forfeit the pre-licence and the security behind it.
• Buying a licence without diligence. Acquiring a company to get its licence means inheriting its compliance history, penalties and disputes. We diligence the licence, not just the shares.
• Underestimating land and grid steps. Connection capacity and site rights are often the real bottleneck, not the licence itself.
• Treating Turkish-law contracts as a formality. Weak EPC, PPA or O&M terms surface exactly when a project is in trouble.

Why instruct a Turkish energy lawyer

Energy is one of Turkey's most heavily regulated and most frequently amended sectors. Tariffs move by Presidential Decree, licensing rules sit in secondary regulation that changes between projects, and the regulator's practice shifts with caselaw. A Turkish lawyer reads the statutes, the regulations and the Danıştay decisions in the original and applies the version in force today — not a translated summary from two reforms ago.

Lexin Legal works in English for foreign clients, coordinates with your technical and financial advisers, and keeps the legal workstream aligned with your build schedule. We tell you plainly what the law requires, where the risks sit, and what we will and will not put in writing — and we keep to the Turkish bar's professional rules throughout.

How to start with Lexin Legal

Send us a short description of your project — technology, target capacity, location and stage — and we will tell you which licences and approvals apply, the realistic timeline, and what we can begin on the strength of a power of attorney. From there we move into structuring, due diligence and filing. You can reach us through the consultation card on this page, and the whole engagement can run remotely.

How we take your energy project forward

Frequently asked questions