Italy's Q1 solar installs grow by 9% y/y

Solar panels in Italy. Image by: TerniEnergia (www.ternienergia.com).

Italy added 115.3 MW of solar power capacity in the first quarter of 2020, of which 18.6 MW came from megawatt-scale installations.

An overview by renewable energy association ANIE Rinnovabili shows that solar capacity additions were up by 10 MW year-on-year. February was the best month for solar installers, with 46.6 MW put in place, while in January and March the monthly total was 33 MW and 35.8 MW, respectively.

The table contains more details.

System capacity range	Q1 2020 (in MW)	Q1 2019 (in MW)
0 to 20 kW	52.2	62.1
20 kW to 100 kW	18.3	20.8
100 kW to 1 MW	26.3	19.5
1 MW +	18.6	2.9

The biggest projects to be completed in the first quarter included four parks in Agrigento, Sicily with a combined capacity of 13.3 MW and one 2.2-MW solar farm in Cremona, Lombardy. At the same time, small residential systems continue to account for roughly half of all installations. The tender recently completed by Italy’s Gestore dei Servizi Energetici GSE SpA, will not change the picture much as solar projects won only 19.4 MW of capacity, as compared to wind's 406 MW.

The combined capacity of newly added wind, solar and hydropower plants in Italy during the first quarter reached 178 MW, up by 23% year-on-year.

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