Renewable energy in Italy
developed rapidly in Italy between 2005 and 2015 and provided the country a means of diversifying from its historical dependency on imported fuels. Solar power accounted for around 8% of the total electric production in the country in 2014, making Italy the country with the highest contribution from solar energy in the world that year. Rapid growth in the deployment of solar, wind and bio energy in recent years lead to Italy producing over 40% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2014.
The share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption had risen to 17.1% in 2014. This number has been growing steadily and today accounts for one of the principal components of national energy consumption. In 2014, 38.2% of the national electric energy consumption came from renewable sources, covering 16% of the total energy consumption of the country. The corresponding figure for electricity generation was even higher as consumption figures are reduced by electricity imports. Imported electricity may also contain a high proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources but these are not accounted for in consumption figures.
All 8,047 Italian municipalities have deployed some source of renewable energy, with hydroelectric power being the leading renewable energy source in terms of production. Bio energy, wind power and geothermal power also make an important contribution to national energy demands. By 2013, renewable energy primary consumption in Italy had grown to 14.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent.
Italy implemented generous incentive schemes to encourage the development of renewable energy production. Its largest scheme incentivised solar PV production and lead Italy from a low base of installed PV in 2010 to become the world's fourth largest country by installations by the end of 2014, ahead of the US at that time. All sources of renewable energy have grown in Italy during recent years and many continue to receive incentives. In the last decade, Italy has become one of the world's largest producers of renewable energy, ranking as the second largest producer in the European Union and the ninth in the world.
History
The urge to produce exclusively green energy in Italy came from the need to reduce the country's historical heavy dependence on fossil fuels and supply flows of hydrocarbons coming from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and to comply with the binding international agreements of the Kyoto Protocol.During the twentieth century, Italy was at the forefront of technological development and the production of energy from renewable sources. In the field of geothermal energy, the first plant dates back to 1904, at Larderello in Tuscany, where in 1913 the first geothermal power plant was also built, and remained the only one in the world until 1958. With regards to hydropower, the first plant in Europe was built in Paderno d'Adda in Lombardy between 1895 and 1898. In the solar energy industry, the first power plant was built in Genoa in 1963, and in 1980 the first solar power tower that uses mirrors was built at Adrano in Sicily. As for the production of wind power, the first experimental projects were started in the second half of the seventies as part of the restructuring of the entire system of production and supply of energy that followed the 1973 and 1979 energy crisis.
During the eighties and the nineties renewable energy projects drew new life from three co-occurring factors: the rapid price increase of crude oil ; a new public awareness of environmentalism ; and the interruption of all construction of nuclear power plants in Italy and the ban on Enel on the participating in the construction or management of nuclear power plants beyond national borders.
Renewable energy by sector
All EU countries as well as Iceland and Norway submitted National Renewable Energy Action Plans to outline the steps taken, and projected progress by each country between 2010 and 2020 to meet the Renewable Energy Directive. Each plan contains a detailed breakdown of each country's current renewable energy usage and plans for future developments. According to projections by the Italian submission by 2020 the gross final energy consumption in Italy by sector breaks down as follows.Excluding losses and adjustments almost half of energy consumption is used in the heating and cooling sector. The heating and cooling sector includes domestic heating and air conditioning, industrial processes such as furnaces and any use of heat generally. The next largest share is the transport sector at 26.7%, followed closely by the electricity sector at 25.3%. The proportion of energy use in each sector is similar to that of 2016. In order to meet Italy's overall target for 17% use of renewable energy in Gross final energy consumption by 2020 targets have been set for each sector as follows: 17% renewable energy use in the heating and cooling sector, 26% in the electricity sector and 10% in the transport sector. Total annual energy consumption is projected to be 133,042 ktoe by 2020.
The energy measures above are gross final energy consumption. Another broader measure, primary energy consumption also includes energy used in the extraction of fuels and energy lost in transformation as well as gross final energy consumption for end users.
Under the European Union Energy Efficiency Directive, EU countries submit their Energy Efficiency Plans every three years.
According to Italy's submission in 2014 the country's total final energy consumption in 2012 was 119.01 Mtoes whilst its primary energy consumption was 163.05 Mtoes.
Most of the approximately 37% difference is accounted for in losses in the transformation sector. These losses are likely to be most prevalent in thermal electricity sectors, thus the use of renewable electricity will reduce emissions and fuels lost in the energy and transformation sectors as well as those in final consumption.
Electricity sector
Renewable electricity by source
In 2023 renewable electricity provided around 38% of Italy's total gross electricity production, a similar number to the one reported in 2015, but with biomass burning no longer counted as renewable. Hydroelectric power continued to provide the largest single source of renewable energy generated electricity in 2023 at around 16% of national production much the same as 2015. Photovoltaic generation provided the next largest share at around 12%, up from 8% in 2015. Wind power almost doubled from 5% to nearly 9%. Geothermal power remained stable since 2015 at 2.2%. The overall change between 2015 and 2023 was therefore the conversion of 8% of total electricity generation from hydrocarbon burning to wind and solar.
Growth of renewable electricity
Between 2005 and 2011 a surge in renewable energy investments and production took place in Italy, particularly in wind and solar energy during the latter years. Total electricity produced from solar PV quintupled in 2011 compared to the previous year. This was mainly due to a drop in costs and to high incentives introduced since 2005.The Italian fossil fuel electricity generation sector underwent a profound crisis. Many Italian power plants burning fossil fuels were running at half capacity and others were in the process of being shut down.
Generation by renewables grew from 76,965 GWh in 2010 to 106,686 GWh by 2015. Non hydroelectric renewable electricity more than doubled during the period growing from 25,848 GWh in 2010 to 62,748 GWh in 2015, a rise from around 9.3% to 22.3% of total gross generation. The largest increase in production took place in solar generated electricity followed by bio energy production. Wind power rose by a little over 60% during the period whilst geothermal production rose by a little under 15%. Normalised hydroelectric statistics suggest a slight upward trend in generation despite wet and dry years influencing the overall production in any given year. Bio energy includes production from biomass, biogas, bioliquids and the renewable share of municipal waste used as fuel in waste-to-energy generation. Further information on bioenergy production is available under the heading "Sources" below.
Electricity production potential from renewables has been rising, however hydroelectric production figures vary considerably from one year to the next and accounts for the fall in 2015. Production of electricity from renewable sources reached a record in 2014 of around 43% of total gross electricity generation. In 2015 production from Wind, Photovoltaic and Geothermal sources almost matched Hydroelectric production for the first time.
Installed Capacity
The total installed capacity of renewable electricity sources grew from 30,284 MW in 2010 to 74,508 MW by 2024. The greatest increase was in solar power, which passed 40GW in August 2025. Wind power grew fairly strongly over the period but was overtaken by solar in 2011. Hydroelectricity is a mature technology in Italy.Heating and cooling sector
| Source. | . | Estimated share of total sector. |
| Biomass | 7,045 | 13.4% |
| of which: -solid biomass | 6,646 | - 12.6 % |
| -biogas | 283 | -0.5 % |
| -bio liquids | 31 | - 0.1 % |
| Municipal share of renewable waste | 85 | 0.2% |
| RE from heat pumps | 2,580 | 4.9% |
| Solar | 180 | 0.3% |
| Geothermal | 130 | 0.2% |
| Total | 9,934 | 18.89% |
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| RE share of sector | 16.43% | 15.64% | 13.82% | 16.98% | 18.10% | 18.89% |
Every two years all EU countries as well as Iceland and Norway submit Progress Reports outlining their renewable energy development and movement towards meeting their 2020 renewable energy targets. Between 2009 and 2014 renewable energy share in the heating and cooling sector grew from 16.43% to 18.89%. In 2014 Biomass provided the largest share of RE in the heating and cooling sector at 13.4% of the total, equating to just over 7 million tonnes of oil equivalent. RE from heat pumps provided almost 5% of the total sector, an area in which Italy is more developed than most countries. Solar and geothermal power provided a contribution of 0.3% and 0.2% respectively.
The Italian government has identified measures to increase the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the heating and cooling sector as outlined in the 2009 Italian National Renewable Energy Action Plan. These include an energy efficiency credits scheme which was expected to save 6 Mtoe by 2012. A 55% tax relief for building and refurbishment projects due to be reviewed by 2010. The report outlined a plan for regulating a minimum quota of 50% of domestic hot water being produced by renewable energy targeting newly constructed buildings or buildings to be refurbished. From 1999 tax credits were made available for district heating using either geothermal or biomass energy. Tax relief for specific measures is included to encourage the replacement of old boilers and chimneys with high energy efficiency and low-emission biomass boilers. Legislation in Italy allows biogas to be injected into the natural gas system where there are no technical issues.
The report identified the possibility of boosting the development of district heating and cooling by making use of biomass from agriculture and forestry, through heat extracted from cogeneration, and utilizing sorted waste. It also seeks to promote the use of biomass in agricultural and industrial areas and the provision for geothermal heat transport networks serving manufacturing and residential areas.
Renewable energy use in the heating and cooling sector 2010-2015
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | *2015 | |
| Geothermal | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.13 | 0.13 | 0.13 | 0.13 |
| Solar thermal | 0.13 | 0.14 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.18 | 0.19 |
| Bio energy | 7.65 | 5.55 | 7.52 | 7.78 | 7.04 | 7.69 |
| Renewable energy from heat pumps | 2.09 | 2.27 | 2.42 | 2.52 | 2.58 | 2.58 |
| Thermal Sector Total | 10.02 | 8.10 | 10.23 | 10.60 | 9.93 | 10.59 |
- Provisional data.