Global Solar PV Market Report

The Italian government has been proactive in promoting renewable energy, with the National Energy Strategy (NES) setting ambitious targets. A commitment to reach 71.2GW of solar capacity by 2030 has fuelled the growth of the solar industry and attracted investor interest. With the DL Energia decree, the Italian authorities introduced new provisions aimed at reducing energy bills for households and businesses. As part of these new provisions, permits for installing commercial rooftop PV systems with a capacity between 50kW and 200kW are simplified significantly, which can be operated under Italian net metering, called “Scambio sul posto.” A further €267 million ($294 million) has been allocated by the Italian government to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in deploying solar panels for self-consumption.

Investor sentiment is boosted from the notable growth observed in recently held clean energy auctions in terms of the number of tenders received and expanded investment value. The state-owned energy service system operator Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) awarded 94.2MW of solar capacity across 15 locations with PV projects ranging in size from 2.2MW to 15.8MW. The developers received discounts ranging from 2% to 2.12% off the auction ceiling price of €0.065 ($0.070)/kWh. The GSE awarded 294MW of solar capacity in September with discounts ranging from 2% to 2.50% from the auction ceiling price of €0.065 ($0.063) per kWh.

There is a growing demand from the corporate sector for renewable electricity offtake. Unsubsidized solar PV projects are becoming easier to finance thanks to the growth of solar PPAs, which are becoming more common. In a significant development, Enfinity Global signed a 10-year solar power purchase agreement with Statkraft in January 2023. Under this agreement, Enfinity will procure 191GWh of clean electricity annually, sourced from a 112MW utility-scale solar power portfolio comprising three power plants located in the Viterbo province.

The increasing adoption of solar PV technology presents an appealing opportunity for the domestic manufacturing of solar equipment. There is a growing need for panel manufacturing in order to reduce dependence on Chinese imports. In a noteworthy development, Enel, an Italian energy company, unveiled its intentions to expand the capacity of its 3Sun solar panel manufacturing facility in Sicily. It currently has a production capacity of 200MW, which will be increased to 3GW by July 2024. A total investment of €600 million will be made, including €188 million as grants received from the European Commission through the pandemic recovery fund.

There is substantial development in the technology side as well. In addition to bifacial solar panels, the gradual shift to TopCON N-Type, PERC P-Type, and HJT technologies is reducing costs and enhancing power output. N-type and P-type PERC cells offer efficiency over 25%. Estimates indicate that N-type solar modules will account for 20% of the market in 2023. It is expected that solar cells based on silicon and perovskite will improve performance further, as they have been tested to have a revolutionary conversion rate of 32.5%. These advancements are contributing to the growing adoption of solar technology among Italians.

Italy is also exploring ways to combine solar energy production with agriculture in order to increase solar capacity and maximize land use efficiency. With around 50 – 70 thousand hectares of usable agricultural land, the development of agri-voltaics is bound to have a considerable expansion effect. In 2022, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies facilitated a €1.5 billion measure to support solar in the agricultural sector, which involves installing 375MW of PV panels on buildings in the sector, including agro-industrial sites. Enel Green Power, an Italian renewable energy company, will begin construction of a 170MW agri-voltaics solar PV plant in March 2023.