Breaking through 30GW! Italian photovoltaics exceed expectations

According to data from the Italian Solar Industry Association (Italia Solare), Italy will add 5.23GW of new photovoltaic installed capacity in 2023, which is significantly higher than the industry body’s forecast of 4GW of new installed capacity. This is also the highest annual installed capacity since 2011. quantity.

This news is very encouraging for the Italian solar industry. New grid-connected power stations in this industry increased by 85% compared with the previous year, and new grid-connected power generation increased by 111% compared with 2022.

The industry is also increasingly reliant on large-scale projects. Italia Solare pointed out that in the third quarter of 2023, Italy added 341MW of new capacity in what it calls "large power stations" (power capacity of more than 10MW). From January 2020 to September 2023, the capacity connected to the grid through large power stations is 420MW.

The Italian solar energy industry relies heavily on distributed power generation. Half of the installed capacity in 2023 will come from the commercial and industrial sector (C&I), 28% will come from the household sector, and 22% will come from the ground photovoltaic sector. This is different from other European markets.

Solar Power Europe predicts that ground-mounted PV projects will lead the development of installed capacity in Europe in 2023, accounting for 34% of all operating capacity, with industrial and commercial solar accounting for 33%. In comparison, commercial and industrial solar accounted for 40% of Europe's total PV installations in 2020.

The Italian solar industry is also extremely dependent on the household sector. Italia Solare reported that 43% of new power generation in 2023 will come from the household sector. This is largely driven by the government's "super bonus" scheme.

With new installations growing, Italy's solar industry now has 30.28GW of installed capacity, more than one-third of the 80GW target in its latest National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) submitted to the EU last year. As shown in the figure above, this significantly exceeds the 52GW target capacity in the 2019 version of the NECP and ranks second among EU countries, behind Germany.

Visctontini said growing demand for new solar projects in Italy, driven by government policies and supportive fiscal incentives for the household industry, has also made the sector more resilient than expected. The industry has been able to withstand the impact of external market factors, such as fluctuations in electricity prices.

The increase in energy prices has had an important impact on the grid connection of industrial photovoltaic systems. The average grid connection interval of such systems is 6-9 months," explained Visctontini. "Electricity price fluctuations have slowed down the project grid connection time, but it has not affected people’s interest in the project. "

"However, this trend... did not stop when energy prices began to fall, and this is because companies have fully understood the advantages of photovoltaics, which allows them to ensure energy prices for at least 20 years, protecting companies from Risks of further price surges."