Renewable energy production in Italy has overtaken fossil fuel generation for the first time.

This is according to Italian grid operator Terna, which reports a 14.6% increase in combined solar and wind production in the first half of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. Between January and June 2024, renewable energy accounted for 43.8% of energy demand ― an increase of almost 10% on comparative demand in 2023.

These record half-year highs are due partly to overperformance from hydropower and partly to the contribution of photovoltaic (PV) energy to increasing renewable energy capacity.

In the first half of 2024, developers added 3.7GW of new renewable power, an increase of 1GW over January to June 2023. Solar accounted for 3.3GW of that total. This bodes well for expected performance over the full 2024 year. In 2023 more than 5.2GW of solar PV capacity was added.

Terna recently unveiled its plan to invest €16.5 billion (US$17.9 billion) in the next five years to strengthen and expand Italy’s transmission grid. This is to support Italy’s shift to a decentralised energy system as the volume of PV and other renewable energy sources coming online grows.

It’s noteworthy that there was very little growth in installed solar PV capacity in Italy between 2014 and 2021. However the almost 2,5 GW uptick measured in 2022 over some 210.000 plants represented an increase not seen in the previous nine years.