Italy more than doubles solar installations in Jan-Sept

Italy put on stream around 3.5 GW of new solar parks in the first nine months of 2023, more than doubling the capacity commissioned in the year-ago period, statistics by Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) show.

A total of 283,400 photovoltaic (PV) farms became operational in January-September, as compared to 126,498 installations commissioned in the same period of 2022. Those additions brought the country’s cumulative installed solar PV capacity to 28.6 GW, registering a 14% increase in annual terms.

The residential segment was responsible for the largest portion of the January-September additions accounting for 46% of the total, while the industrial sector was responsible for 30%. By the type of construction, roughly 69% of the total capacity came from PV arrays across rooftop areas and 31% were ground-mounted parks.

According to the data, Italy’s solar farms produced around 25,643 GWh of electricity in the first nine months of the year, up 7.3% from a year ago. The output of self-consumption plants stood at 6,114 GWh, exceeding the previous year generation by 16.6% as more homeowners opted for solar. All regions increased gross production in the nine months, apart from Basilicata, Puglia and Molise. The highest output came from Puglia, which led with 3,435 GWh produced, followed by Lombardy (3,028 GWh), Emilia Romagna (2,500 GWh) and Veneto (2,462 GWh).