Italy: 339MW of renewable energy installed in the first half of the year

     In the first half of 2020, Italy added 339 megawatts of solar, wind and hydroelectric power generation installations, a decrease of 39% compared to the same period in 2019. As wind energy has suffered setbacks, off grid solar power system solar and hydropower generation are the main driving forces this year.

    According to RES observation data, solar power and hydropower increased by 12% and 62%, respectively, while wind power underperformed, down 86%, resulting in a significant year-on-year decrease in net growth.

    In order to achieve the 2030 renewable energy target, Italy is falling behind its annual average installation target of 330 MW/month.
 
    From the current point of view, the solar energy industry is returning to growth, with 69 MW of newly installed capacity in May and 71.6 MW of newly installed capacity in June. The previous blockade caused by COVID-19 decreased in March and April. Overall, the first half of 2020 is positive, with approximately 259 MW of new capacity added (an increase of 12% over 2019). The new solar power generation in the first quarter exceeded 115 megawatts.

    Installations in Campania, Liguria, Marche, Molise and Sicily have increased. At the same time, Sardinia, Tuscany and Valle d’Aosta have poor trends. Nearly 67% of the newly added equipment is about 10 kW and above, of which equipment below 20 kW accounts for 42% of the total.

    Compared with the same period in 2019, the number of new wind power installations in the first quarter of 2020 decreased by 39%. It is worth noting that 78% of the newly connected devices are located in southern Italy. There were no new installations in January and April. However, some projects did start to run, especially the 8 MW project in Calabria, Catanzaro Province in June.

     Recently, French data and statistical research announced that the country has added 379 megawatts of solar capacity in the first half of 2020 (1H). France has successfully installed 405 MW of solar capacity in the first half of 2019. These new installations are mainly concentrated in the south of the country. As of June 2020, the cumulative total installed capacity in France will reach 10.3 GW.

    At the same time, according to the latest data released by the federal network agency Bundesnetzagentur, Germany installed 447 megawatts of solar capacity in July 2020, an increase of 11 megawatts from June 2020 (an increase of 2.2%). In the same period last year, Germany installed 302 megawatts.