Abstract Electricity demand in Turkey grows rapidly as a result of the rate of population growth, a rapid industrialization, and economic development. When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, its installed capacity of electricity production and the total electricity production were only 33 MW and 45 GWh, respectively. But, Turkey's installed power capacity reached 38,843.5 MW with an annual electricity production of 161,956.2 GWh in 2005. In this study, the electric power plants in Turkey and, their capacities and resources used in the electricity generation were investigated in order to update the electric energy statistics. First, the development of installed capacity and generation of the electricity between 1923 and 2005 were studied. Then, energy resources used in electricity generation were identified. Furthermore, the status of thermal, hydro, wind, and geothermal power plants in Turkey was classified according to the electricity utilities.