Italy

The Solar Market Parity Italy 2019 event organized by Solarplaza in Milan last week gave an insight into the Italian large scale PV market by forecasting the trajectory of the segment and highlighting issues investors and developers may encounter.

The €5.4 billion program is expected to spur new growth in large scale PV while also providing incentives for rooftop systems. Originally scheduled for January, the country’s first technology neutral clean energy auctions – which will provide additional incentives EV charging-linked projects – may be held in the months ahead.

Although the Italian PV industry only posted a slight increase compared to the first quarter of the previous two years, the market has continued to grow at an average of around 30 MW per month over the past five years, while still being driven by rooftop solar. More growth is expected from the PPA segment and upcoming auctions. The European Commission still needs to approve a decree regulating the country’s procurement scheme, however.

The power line, under development by Italian transmission company Terna and Tunisian gas and electricity group STEG since 2003, was originally conceived to export power generated in Tunisia to Italy but is now based on an electricity exchange in the opposite direction.

Tuscia, in the Lazio region, is the focus of plans for several big solar parks including a 150 MW project approved by the regional government, two schemes exceeding 100 MW and six more projects ranging in size from 17 to 70 MW. Some 700 MW of solar is under development in the municipalities of Montalto di Castro and Tuscania alone.

The Rome-based power and water utility said it plans to build new projects and acquire existing facilities in the secondary market. The move is part of the company’s €4 billion investment plan for the 2019-22 period.

The Danish developer has bought the right to build a 123 MW plant in Troia, in the southern Italian region of Apulia. The project was initiated in 2011 and is the largest Italian PV project to have secured all necessary approvals. European Energy plans to start construction this year.

The Italian PV market grew 7% last year with new capacity additions of 437 MW. Of that figure, only about 47 MW was for installations larger than 1 MW – a clear sign rooftop PV is still driving demand.

Danish developer European Energy has secured a 12-year agreement from Axpo Italia, the local unit of Swiss energy provider Axpo. Around half the 300 MW of solar projects the company is developing in Italy are now ready to build.

The Italian government has published a plan for climate and energy envisaging a central role for solar in the nation’s energy mix, with PV expected to represent more than the half the power generation capacity from renewables by the end of the next decade.