Italian PV generates 7.5% of country’s electricity in 2014

PV Magazine

Terna, Italy’s electricity transmission grid operator, this week released the country’s preliminary electricity data for 2014. According to the Terna figures, Italy’s PV systems generated a record 23.299 GWh from January to December 2014, covering 7.53 percent of the country’s electricity needs.

This is a 9.8% increase from PV electricity production in 2013, when photovoltaic systems had generated 21.229 GWh of electricity or about 6.6% of the country’s electricity demand in 2013.

Overall, 2014 was an excellent year for Italy’s renewable energy sector in terms of electricity output with all various kind of renewable systems of energy reporting an output increase. Of these, photovoltaic technology scored the highest year on year output increase and is only second to hydro systems that produced 58.067 GWh.

On the contrary, Italy’s thermoelectric sector provided only 165.684 GWh of the country’s electricity demand in 2014, a 9.7 percent decrease compared to 2013. Overall, electricity demand was also down in 2014, being reduced specifically by 3 percent compared to 2013.

In terms of monthly output, August was the best year for the PV sector which generated 2.832 GWh of electricity compared to January’s 780 GWh, the lowest PV generated of all months last year.

New cuts?

2014 was a critical year for the Italian PV investors who saw their income reduced when the government imposed retroactive feed-in tariff cuts for existing PV installations.

Recently too, there were reports that Italy’s government has mooted a series of new charges for PV systems in 2015. The supposed new fees were to cover costs incurred by Italy’s energy agency GSE for the running of the country’s Conto Energia renewables remuneration scheme and the net-metering program.

However, a spokesperson of Italy’s renewable energy organization ANIE Rinnovabili told pv magazine that “GSE’s fees is something already in place since a couple of years ago. There is nothing left to cut [of the Italian PV sector]”, the same source added.

GSE has reported that there is a total 18.2 GW of PV currently installed under the Conto Energia schemed oppressed 531.242 among installations. Italy continues to add new photovoltaic systems, however these now come through its net-metering program which in 2014 expanded to cover systems up to 500 kW.

Source: PV Magazine. Reproduced with permission.