During Q1/2023, Italy brought online 1.058 GW new solar PV capacity. That volume is over two times the level of over 1 GW the country deployed in H1/2022, taking the Italy's cumulative installed PV capacity to 26.1 GW, according to Terna's official data analyzed by local solar association Italia Solare.
The installed capacity is spread out as 296 MW in January 2023, 376 MW in February 2023 and 386 MW in March 2023. This means in Q1/2023 Italy has already installed half of its 2022 annual installed capacity of 2.48 GW (see Italy Installed 2.48 GW New Solar PV Capacity In 2022).
Installations were driven by the residential segment with system sizes under 12 kW that contributed 569 MW to the total in the reporting quarter.
The segment with plants between 12 kW and 20 kW saw connections increase by 243% annually.
Commercial and industrial (C&I) segment with system sizes ranging between 20 kW and 1 MW improved connections by 126%. Italia Solare points out that while last year there was a rush to build plants as grid electricity was expensive. This year, however, the haste is not there hence there is greater attention to quality of project execution.
Projects between 1 MW and 10 MW registered an annual jump of 101% during the reporting period.
Italia Solare's Attilio Piattelli explained, "The connections of larger plants (over 1 MW) suggest a constant development of plants between 1 and 10 MW (year 2022: +61 MW in Q1, +69 MW in Q2, +44 MW in Q3, + 108 MW in Q4; year 2023: +123 MW in Q1), thanks primarily to the greater economies of medium voltage plants compared to high voltage ones, whose connection costs are spread better over higher powers, but probably also thanks to fewer complications of the authorization procedures."
The association notes that since July 2022, no projects with over 10 MW capacity have come online, as per the data shared even though more than 5 GW of large-scale plants have authorization, pointed out Italia Solare's President Paolo Rocco Viscontini.
In terms of geographical distribution, Lombardy contributed with the maximum of 190 MW, followed by 169 MW in Veneto and 118 MW in Emilia Romagna during Q1/2023.