Italy added around 60.1 MW of new PV
installations in the first two months of this year, up 17% from 51 MW in
the same period a year earlier, according to provisional numbers
released by the Italian renewable energy association, Anie Rinnovabili,
which are based on data provided by the country’s grid operator, Terna.
In February alone, new additions totaled 27.9 MW, up 8% from the same month of 2017.
Residential
PV systems not exceeding 20 kW represent around 60% of this year’s
newly installed capacity, with PV installations ranging from 4.5 kW to 6
kW accounting for the largest share with 11.9 MW, followed by
generators up to 3 kW (7.9 MW), solar systems with a capacity range of
10 kW to 20 kW (7.5 MW), installations ranging in size from 3 kW to 4,5
kW (6.7 MW), and systems with a capacity between 6 kW and 10 kW (2.2
MW).
As for the commercial and industrial segments, the category
with the largest share is that of PV systems with a power range of 20 kW
to 100 kW, which reached a combined capacity of 10.9 MW. In the
large-scale segment, which includes all projects exceeding 1 MW, the
newly installed power for the first two months of this year was just 2.5
MW.
The regions with the largest volume of installed capacity are
once again Lombardia, Emilia Romagna and Veneto with around 10.9 MW,
9.0 MW and 8.8 MW, respectively.
These figures confirm that the
average growth trend of the Italian solar market, around 30 MW per
month, remained almost unchanged over the past three years. Last year’s
record performance, which was of around 409 MW, included the usual 30 MW
per month plus another 66 MW of "grid-parity” projects that were
connected to the grid in central Italy. If no more projects of this kind
are finalized in Italy this year, it will be very likely that growth in
2018 will range between 300 MW and 360 MW, as in previous years, in
which the market was mainly driven by the Italian regulation for
self-consumption, the so-called SEU framework, which has been key to
Italy’s solar development since the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme, Conto Energía was closed.
Several
large-scale solar projects, however, have recently been planned or
announced in the country, while the first corporate PPA for
"grid-parity” was announced by French energy group Engie in February.
(www.pv-magazine.com)