Between January 2019 and March 2019, Italy installed 105.3 MW of new solar power capacity, growing over 18% on an annual basis. Last year's first quarter installations added up to 89.1 MW (see Italian Q1/2018 PV Numbers Negligibly Up YoY). The latest installation data has been compiled by Italian renewable energy association Anie Rinnovabili. It has aggregated the statistics shared by the country's grid operator Terna.
Italy continues to remain mostly a rooftop solar market – 59% or 62.1 MW of all new solar power installed in 2019 came from residential PV systems of up to 20 kW capacity. Solar power systems with a capacity range of 20 kW to 100 kW added 20.8 MW, and those between 100 kW to 1 MW were a total of 19.5 MW. Only 2.9 MW of more than 1 MW capacity was installed during the reporting quarter.
Geographically, Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Lazio, Sardegna, Trentino Alto Adige saw the strongest growth in solar power generation, while the largest capacity installed was in the regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria and Fruili Venezia Giulia. The numbers show Emilia Romagna, Toscana, and Veneto as the regions with the largest decline.
On a monthly basis, 39 MW were deployed in the month of March 2019, which was the highest for the year so far, a 35% increase over March 2018. In January 2019 and February 2019, Italy installed 33.8 MW and 32.5 MW, respectively.
Overall, solar's 105.3 MW made up the largest share among 145 MW of renewable energy capacity added during Q1/2019, that grew by more than 5% compared to Q1/2018.