Solar power in Italy has returned to an annual production level not seen since 2013 with 2.6 Gw of new additional capacity in 2022: +174% compared to 2021. However, Italy is only sixth in the ranking of countries that have increased their production of available photovoltaic energy.
This can be read in the European “Market Outlook for Solar Power 2022-2026”, which photographs the state of the art of photovoltaics and indicates the trend for the coming years.
In 2022, overall, the EU recorded 41.4 GW of new photovoltaic capacity connected to the grids, +47% on 2021, which had already set a record, when the solar market had already expanded its capacity by 41% to 28, 1 GW, marking the best year in history. Germany, with 7.9 GW, is the State that has achieved the best performance in terms of new installed capacity, followed by Spain (7.5 GW), Poland (4.9 GW), the Netherlands (4 GW) and France (2.7 GW). Italy is only sixth, a country that in theory should have few rivals in terms of sunshine, especially when compared to Poland, Holland or Germany itself which even benefit from fewer hours of sunshine due to their latitude. Yet the peninsula’s contribution to European photovoltaics was just +6 percent. It should be noted that Italy is out of the top ten of states where there is the greatest per capita photovoltaic production
The Italian solar market has had slow growth over the last eight years, with an average capacity of 500 MW installed per year. After a recovery in 2021, when 936 MW was added, the market grew significantly in 2022: 1.6 GW of new PV facilities had been installed by the end of the third quarter, bringing the level of cumulative solar capacity to 24, 2 GW – Italy is the third largest producer in Europe – for a total of 1,137,374 plants. The vast majority of these are small-scale. PV systems between 200 kW and 999 kW are in fact the most widespread, generating an installed solar PV capacity of 8.1 GW. Curiosity: the regions with the highest installed capacity are Puglia, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, while those with the lowest installed capacity are Valle d’Aosta, Liguria and Molise.
Photovoltaic has strengthened its market, thanks to the Superbonus 110% and high electricity prices which have improved the attractiveness of self-consumption. However “Italy is finally starting to unleash its solar potential. New permitting rules for commercial and industrial sites, decided in 2022, are already having positive effects”, reads the “Market Outlook for Solar Power 2022-2026”.
In fact, the study predicts 20.9 Gw of new solar energy connected to the Italian grid by 2026. A performance in percentage terms, +17% per year, which however appears to be one of the lowest on a continental level. Only Belgium should do worse than us.
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