How much solar energy Italy produces and where it’s produced

Italy is one of the most outstanding countries in Europe and the world when it comes to renewable energy production. After hydroelectric power, solar energy is the star performer of our green energy sources. Photovoltaic energy, in particular, accounts for a fifth of all the green energy we produce and meets between 7% and 8% of the nation’s total energy requirements (data based on 2019 figures). A little background to Italy’s solar energy story The most important years so far for solar energy on a national level have been the early years of this century. From the mid-2000s onwards, a whole series of incentives were devised and then launched to encourage the installation of photovoltaic and solar thermal energy plants. These incentives achieved the hoped-for results and included financial bonuses for electricity production and the possibility of feeding excess energy generated into the distribution network, selling it to other private parties for a profit. The reduction of production costs has greatly helped this sector, to the point that in recent years we have managed to achieve photovoltaic Grid Parity: that is, the cost of producing electricity using solar panels is now equal to or less than the cost of purchasing energy produced from fossil fuels. Photovoltaic energy really gained traction in Italy between 2005 and 2015 in particular, with the result that we surpassed every other nation in the international rankings. The number of sector professionals also increased to 100,000, with most involved in installing, planning and designing the plants. Between 2010 and 2013, the total installed power jumped from less than 4,000 megawatts to 17,000. Overall, average annual growth of 63.7% was maintained for that entire golden decade. However, once the incentivizing effect of the state subsidies came to an end, Italy’s progress in photovoltaics slowed dramatically, producing more modest growth figures. In fact, it took until 2018 for us to exceed the symbolic threshold of 20,000 megawatts installed. That said, it is still true that solar energy in Italy basically means electric solar power, or photovoltaics. The other type, solar thermal generation, which uses sunlight to directly heat fluids (often water), does exist but does not account for a significant proportion. In fact, according to ENEA, it is just over 1% of Italy’s thermal energy production. Where are Italy’s photovoltaic plants? It isn’t easy to describe the geographical spread of photovoltaic plants in Italy. While there are clear distinctions between north, central and southern Italy for other types of energy, the national solar electricity situation is quite fragmented. Regional and provincial rankings change significantly according to whether they are based on the number of plants, the nominal power installed or the actual power achieved. This is because the average size of the plants and the way solar radiation is distributed across the nation affect these statistics. Much changes, too, depending on whether the absolute data are evaluated in terms of the size of the region or the size of the province in question, as well as the population density. According to data provided in June 2020 by GSE, Italy’s Sustainable Energy Services Management company, and updated to the end of 2019, Lombardy has the highest number of plants in absolute terms with over 135,000 installations out of a total of 880,000, accounting for 15.4% of the national figure. It is followed by Veneto (around 120,000 plants, the equivalent of 14.1%) and Emilia Romagna (10.4%, just under the 100,000 mark). Trailing a good way behind are Piedmont (7%), Lazio (6.7%), Sicily (6.4%) and Puglia (5.8%). Nonetheless, Puglia itself jumps from seventh to first position on the basis of installed power because the average size of its plants is significantly larger than in any other region: numbers-wise, it has an average of 55.2 kilowatts per installation as opposed to Lombardy, for instance, which has just 17.7 kilowatts per installation. Based on power, however, Puglia tops the list with 13.5% of the total, followed by Lombardy with 11.5%, Emilia Romagna with 10.1% and Veneto with 9.6%. Bringing up the rear with between 6% and 8% are Piedmont, Sicily and Lazio. It is interesting to note, however, that things aren’t uniform within the individual regions, either. If we go down to province level, we see areas that are particularly lacking, that have installed barely one per 1,000 of the national total alongside genuinely standout performers such as Lecce, which alone accounts for 3.4% of Italy’s photovoltaics, Cuneo with 2.7%, and finally, Viterbo and Rome with 2.2% each. Lastly, a few surprises emerge when we consider installed power density, or power per square kilometer. For instance, the Marche region, which is quite low in the other rankings, is actually Italy’s second strongest performing region in that regard, with 117 installed kilowatts per square kilometer, outdone only by Puglia, which has 145. But the Marche tops the classification when we calculate power per capita, with 0.721 kilowatts per inhabitant. This result is consistent with a clear prevalence in Italy’s central and southern Adriatic regions such as Puglia (0.702), Basilicata (0.659), Molise (0.575), Abruzzo (0.566) and Umbria (0.554). Local communities are contributing in a remarkable way to the energy transition, each with their own particular strengths. Based on population, 44.4% of the total installed power in Italy is located in the north, 37.4% in the south and 18.2% in the central regions. How much energy is produced in Italy? Italy’s milestone achievement of 20,000 megawatts of installed photovoltaic power is now well established. So much so, in fact, that having hit the target of 20,1o8 megawatts at the end of 2018, that figure rose again in 2019 to 20,865 megawatts. According to the latest GSE report, production reached 21,589 gigawatt hours per year in 2013, grew to 24,378 in 2017 and almost 25,000 in 2020. Naturally enough, production was at its highest in the summer months with an output of just under 3,000 gigawatt hours in June and July, plus five other months coming in at over 2,000: March, April, May, August and September. November, December and January combined didn’t even match June (the record month) or July. A few other interesting and significant statistics Although various new technologies and materials (such as double-sided solar panels) are coming onto the market and have proven to be extremely efficient, increasing producibility thanks to the use of surfaces that do not need to be directly exposed to solar radiation, Italy’s photovoltaic plants are still almost entirely silicon-based. Overall, 72.5% of the panels installed are made of polycrystalline silicon, while 21.5% are made of monocrystalline silicon. The remaining 6%, on the other hand, are made from thin films or other alternative, higher performing materials. The exception to this is in Sicily, where 11% of installed power is neither crystalline nor polycrystalline silicon but amorphous silicon. There is also a significant contrast between ground-mounted panels, which are attached to fixed support structures or solar trackers on the ground, and those installed on the roofs of houses, industrial sheds, canopies, etc. To date, there are slightly more roof-mounted panels – 58% compared to 42% – but with very significant differences on a local level. For example, in Liguria, Valle d’Aosta and the provinces of Trento and Bolzano, over 90% of plants are not ground-mounted, while in Puglia and Basilicata, fewer than 30% are not ground-mounted, but the rest are. In general, latitude makes a major difference: the percentage of roof-mounted systems drops gradually from north to south. According to data gathered by Terna, in the final part of the 2010s, between 50,000 and 60,000 new plants were installed per year (out of a total of just under 900,000). The average size of the plants has evolved, too: while the majority are under 20 kilowatts (i.e., designed for self-consumption), almost a third of newly installed photovoltaic power comes from large plants with a power output of over five megawatts. Today in Italy, the time required to obtain the necessary authorizations for utility scale plants is high (1-1.5 years) and the number of authorizations is limited; all this translates into a reduced volume of authorized projects and therefore an installation of new annual capacity that is lower than European benchmarks. Outlook, new projects and other types of solar energy Among the most significant new arrivals on the Italian scene are storage systems which accumulate or store photovoltaic energy that is not used immediately. While on the one hand, there is definitely a trend toward installing panels even on ordinary objects and devices (from transportation to smartphone accessories), thermodynamic solar generation is also gaining traction. It uses special mirrors that concentrate the sun’s energy to a single point which heats a solar collector, a tube with a mix of molten salts, to a temperature of 400°C-600°C, delivering efficiency levels superior to those of classic panels. The leading Italian region in this instance, at least in the launch phase, is Sicily but there are projects and trials being launched right across the whole south of Italy, aimed at both civil and industrial energy use. According to ENEA, the aforementioned solar thermal generation is also of strategic importance to the country, as it allows the energy of the sun to be used by the mechanical and thermohydraulic sectors as well as for domestic consumption. There are already over four million square meters of thermal solar panels (data based on 2019 figures), most of which are residential, and can produce in excess of 2,500 gigawatt hours of power per year: the equivalent of a tenth or so of total photovoltaic solar production. Lastly, through its work with the space agencies, Italy is also indirectly taking part in research to capture the sun’s energy in space and transfer it back to Earth. However, at the moment, this is still the new frontier of science and technology and it will take time for it to have an impact on our energy balance.

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How much solar energy Italy produces and where it’s produced

How much solar energy Italy produces and where it’s produced