Italy hits 25 GW milestone

Italy reached 25,048 MW of cumulative installed PV capacity, spread across 1,221,045 installations, by the end of December, according to new statistics released by Italia Solare, the nation’s solar energy association.

The largest portion of this capacity is represented by PV systems ranging in size from 200 kW to 1 MW, accounting for 8,270 MW or 33% of the total. The second-largest segment is installations with outputs ranging from 20 kW to 200 kW, with a share of 5,057 MW, or 20% of the total.

Solar arrays with capacities of less than 12 kW account for 4,949 MW, or 20% of the total, followed by systems with capacities of 1 MW to 10 MW, for a 16% share, or 3,942 MW.

Italia Solare says that PV plants above 10 MW have a share of 1,479 MW, or 6% of the total. PV systems with capacities ranging between 12 kW and 20 kW reached 1,351 MW at the end of December, for a share of around 5% of the total.

The regions with the largest share of total new capacity additions are Lombardia with 3,149 MW, Apulia with 3,063 MW, Emilia Romagna with 2,512 MW, and Veneto with 2,484 MW.

The residential segment, or PV systems below 12 kW, was still the largest market driver last year, with around 1,103 MW of new installed capacity, said Italia Solare. This was followed by the large-scale plants above 10 MW in size, at 289 MW.

“For 2023, a doubling from this year is very likely, and for 2024 a further doubling, so we are talking about 2 GW, 4 GW, and 8 GW,” Italia Solare President Paolo Rocco Viscontini told pv magazine at the recent Italia Solare Forum in Rome.

The Italian government is currently supporting large-scale solar via an auction system and rooftop solar through net metering and several fiscal incentives.