Wind, solar parks meet 14% of Italy's Q1 demand

The San Gregorio wind farm in Italy. Source: Renvico

Wind and solar farms in Italy produced 11 TWh of electricity in the first quarter of 2020, which was equal to roughly 14% of power demand for the period.

When geothermal energy and power from biomass power plants are added to the calculation, Italy’s non-hydro renewables output reaches 17 TWh. This was enough to meet 22% of the country’s power demand in the first quarter, according to statistics by power grid operator Terna SpA (BIT:TRN).

Wind generation in the period was down by 17.4% to 5.9 TWh, the solar and biomass output was flat, and geothermal power grew by 2.2%. Thermal power generation in the quarter, including biomass, dropped by 9.4% to 45 TWh. Total demand fell by 4.5% in the quarter after a 10.2% plunge in March due to the measures Italy had to take to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The table contains details on power generation by different energy sources.

Output in TWh	Q1 2020	Q1 2019	March 2020	March 2019
Wind	5.88	7.11	1.76	2.45
Solar	5.12	5.11	2.07	2.38
Thermal	44.98	49.65	12.95	15.42
- of which Biomass	4.48	4.46	1.49	1.52
Geothermal	1.45	1.42	0.5	0.48
Hydro	8.88	7.56	2.82	2.14
Net power generation	66.31	70.85	20.10	22.87
Power demand	76.98	80.62	23.73	26.43