At the end of 2020, around 936,000 photovoltaic systems were installed in Italy, with a total capacity of 21.65 GW and production of just under 25 TWh. Approximately 55,000 new systems were installed during the year, increasing the country’s installed capacity by almost 750 MW, confirming the previous year’s trend despite the restrictions related to the COVID-19 emergency. The installations carried out in 2020 mainly concern plants with a power rating of less than 20 kW; however, the larger plants, with power ratings above 1 MW, account for over 20% of the new photovoltaic power.
Out of an estimated 116 TWh of electricity produced from renewable sources in Italy in 2020, photovoltaics, with just under 25 TWh, accounted for more than 21%, an increase of 5.3% over the previous year’s production.
Lombardy confirmed its position as the region with the largest number of plants (over 145,000, accounting for 11.7% of the total installed power in the country), followed by Veneto (around 134,000 plants). The region with the most installed power is Puglia, with 2.9 GW (13.4% of the national total). More generally, 45% of the total power installed in Italy at the end of 2020 is concentrated in the northern regions, 37% in the south and 18% in the centre. The Statistical Report also shows that photovoltaics are now widespread in all economic sectors: agriculture, industry, the tertiary sector (in which the public administration concentrates about 4% of installed power) and residential.
In Italy, almost all domestic installations are for self-consumption. If we look only at self-consumption installations, the best results come from the industrial and tertiary sectors, which have achieved percentages of 58% and 50% respectively of self-consumption out of the total energy produced.