Italy exceeds 40GW cumulative solar PV installations

Last year, Italia Solare noted that the country’s balance of utility-scale and small-scale solar projects had begun to shift more towards the former, following the end of the ‘Superbonus’ scheme to incentivise residential solar installations.

This trend looks to have continued into 2025, with the trade association reporting that Italy has added 88MW of residential capacity a month in the first half of this year, which would put Italy on pace to add 1,056MW in 2025. This compares to 1,789MW of residential capacity additions in 2024 and 2,258MW of additions in 2023.

Between 2023 and 2024, the slowdown in residential capacity additions amounts to a 21% year-on-year decline, while utility-scale installations grew 163% year-on-year. However, Italia Solare noted that the monthly residential capacity addition figure is still four times higher than in 2020, before the Superbonus scheme came into effect, which it described as “a sign of demand that remains solid”.

“Today, PV is no longer a marginal option; it is an integral part of our energy infrastructure,” said Paolo Rocco Viscontini, president of Italia Solare.

“It’s time to accelerate the mechanisms that support self-consumption and integration with storage, overcoming the bureaucratic and legislative slowness that is still hindering the development of an energy system based on clean technologies that can ensure our country’s low and stable energy prices over time,” he added.

Lombardia leads regions in cumulative capacity installations

Perhaps unsurprisingly, more capacity has been installed in regions with more average annual hours of sunshine. The town of Bari in the south-west, for instance, leads Italy in average annual sunshine hours and the Puglia region, where Bari is located, has close to 4GW of cumulative installed capacity.

However, Italia Solare noted that many of the country’s solar installations are concentrated in regions with higher populations, reflecting a greater demand for electricity. As shown in the graph below, Lombaria has the most installed capacity as of July 2025, with more than 5.4GW of capacity, and was the most populous region in the country in 2023, with over ten million inhabitants.

Similarly, Lazio and Campania, both of which had over five million people in 2023, have cumulative solar installations of 3.8GW and 1.7GW respectively, the fifth- and ninth-highest capacity installation totals among the regions.

Interest remains high in developing new projects in Italy, with the most recent government tender, held in July, attracting over 1,300 bids for around 17.5GW of new solar capacity. The government said that it will award up to 8GW of capacity, significantly more capacity than was awarded in the last two auctions, which saw 278.5MW and 321.6MW of capacity awarded, respectively.

PV Tech publisher Solar Media will be organising the third edition of Large Scale Solar Southern Europe in Athens, Greece from 16-17 September 2024. The event will focus on the ever-growing market of Southern Europe with a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders responsible for the build-out of solar PV and energy storage projects in Italy, Greece and the Balkans. For more information visit the event website.