Italy: added solar capacity in 2017 expected to total 400 MW

Italy: added solar capacity in 2017 expected to total 400 MW

So far, 2017 has been a record-breaking year for Italy’s solar sector. The latest figures regarding its current additions to the grid promise a new overall capacity of over 19.6 GW, allowing the country to cover as much as 8.2 % of its power demand with solar energy.

 

Italy’s solar market is growing, as current figures confirm. In the first 10 months of this year, 12% more new PV capacity were added than in 2016 and 28% more than in 2015 – a total of 352 MW. As a result, 8.2 % of the country’s solar power demand can now be satisfied through solar.

 

New additions in 2017 may total 400 MW

With these remarkable figures for the first 10 months of 2017 in mind, experts now believe that Italy’s overall new solar capacity for this year may total 400 MW. This would be a new record, considering that the previous four years achieved results of between 300 and 350 MW.

 

PV plants over 1 MW were largest group

Out of these new projects, PV plants over 1 MW make up the largest share with almost 70 MW. Most of this capacity is part of solar plants in the Lazio region, which sell their generated power to a local distributor. Unlike usual procedures in Italy, this happens under a PPA. Lazio is also the region to see the largest capacity addition this year, with 83.8 MW.

PV systems between 4.5 kW and 6 kW were the second largest group, with a result of 53 MW by the end of October. After them, PV installations of sizes between 20 kW to 100 kW ensued with 50.1 MW, then installations between 10 kW and 20 kW with 46.2 MW and systems between 6 kW and 20 kW with 36.3 MW.

 

October was slower

October was the first month this year to break the trend. Anie Rinnovabili, the country’s renewable energy associaton, has released the first provisional numbers for that period, based on data collected by Italy’s grid operator Terna. According to these, 29 MW were added to the grid during the course of that month – 3 MW less than in September and 3% less than in October 2016.

However, October also achieved one success: all currently installed systems in Italy generated 1,921 GWh during this month – over 36 % more than during the same time last year. This allowed the country to cover 7.2 % of October’s power demand with solar energy.

 

New total installed capacity of 19.6 GW expected

Based upon data collected and released by the energy agency Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE), Italy’s overall installed PV capacity totaled 19.2 GW by the end of 2016. With the new additions that followed until October, a new total of over 19.6 GW can be expected.

 

Title image: Alex Tor/Shutterstock