Italy installed 84 MW of PV in first quarter 2017

Italy registered a new PV capacity of 84.1 MW in the first quarter of this year, according to preliminary data released by Italian renewable energy association Anie Rinnovabili. This compares to 90 MW in the first quarter of 2016 and 83 MW in the fourth quarter of last year.

In March, new additions totaled 32.6 MW, while in February and January new PV capacity was 25.8 MW and 25.7 MW, respectively.

The segment for PV systems ranging in size from 4.5 kW to 6 kW account for most of the PV power installed so far this year with 15.2 MW, followed by installations with a capacity between 20 kW and 100 kW (14.4 MW), systems with a size between 10 kW and 20 kW (12.3 MW), and projects between 200 kW and 500 kW (11.5 MW). Only 3.6 MW of new capacity was installed in the category for PV systems ranging in size from 500 kW to 1 MW.

The regions with the largest share of solar in the first three months of 2017 were Lombardia (13.1 MW), Veneto (11.7 MW) and Emilia-Romagna (9.8 MW), all located in the North of the country. Sicily, which is Italy’s southernmost region, occupies the fourth position with 8.6 MW of new PV installations.

Meanwhile, the Italian grid-operator Terna reports that solar was able to cover around 8.8% of the country’s electricity demand in March with 2,319 GWh. This was up 27.9% compared to the same month of 2016. Moreover, Terna reports that all PV installations spread across Italy were able to generate 4,592 GWh in the first quarter of 2017 (up 15% Y-oY), thus meeting 5.8% of total demand.

According to the latest official statistic released by Terna, Italy had about 18.9 GW of installed PV capacity at the end of 2015. Taking into account last year’s newly installed PV capacity, which was around 369 MW, and new additions for the first three months of 2017, the country should have reached approximately 19.3 GW of installed solar capacity at the end of March.