Italy’s photovoltaic market experienced robust growth, with 2.3 GW of newly installed capacity added in the first half of 2023, increasing the cumulative installed capacity to 27.4 GW. An increase of 129% compared to the previous year, compared to the entirety of 2022 and 2010. The last time the country installed more than 3GW was a decade ago when it reached 3.6GW in 2012.

The residential sector accounted for approximately 47% of the new installations.  Additionally, the commercial and industrial sectors and utility-scale projects with a capacity of over 1 MW have become the main expansion drivers, growing by 49% and 89%, respectively, in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the first quarter.

The number of photovoltaic power plants with a capacity exceeding 10 MW increased, these include two 10 MW photovoltaic power plants in Piedmont and Apulia, as well as a newly added 36 MW plant in Sardinia.

Italy ended 2023 with the best solar installs since 2012 when it added more than 3.6GW of PV capacity and increased its total capacity to 28.6GW. Specifically, the 28.6 GW capacity represents more than 1.5 million solar systems installed, including 3.5 GW deployed during 9M/2023 with over 280,000 systems.  An impressive result after nearly a decade of less than 1GW of installed capacity per year.

The country recently updated its renewables targets by 2030 to reach 65% of electricity generation, intending to reach an installed capacity of 80GW from solar PV, up from 52GW in the 2019 National and energy climate plan (NECP).