The Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) has said that it intends 65% of the country’s electricity generation to come from renewable energy by 2030.
In an updated Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) proposal submitted to the EU late last week, MASE said that it plans to generate 40% of Italy’s gross energy needs and 65% of its electricity consumption from renewables by the end of the decade.
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Across sectors, the plan specifies that renewables will account for 37% of the energy in the heating and cooling sector, 31% in transport and 42% of hydrogen production for industrial use.
MASE said that the plan meets the majority of the Europe-wide climate targets set out by the EU, and in some cases exceeds them. It said that reducing emissions in the civil, transport and agricultural sectors pose the most complex challenges, compared with harder-to-abate heavy industry where the EU regulation is more focused on its Emissions Trading System (ETS).
The PNIEC is pending approval from Brussels, and final decision will be reached by June 2024.
Minister Gilberto Pichetto said that MASE was looking for a ‘realistic’ pathway through the energy transition that is sustainable for Italy’s economy.
The rooftop solar market in Italy more than doubled in the last year as a result of favourable policies, according to a report from SolarPower Europe last month. The Italian government simplified the application process and made over US$200 million available for rooftop PV deployments in early 2022.
In its latest state renewable energy auction, Italy awarded 200MW of solar PV projects and a significant raft of wind capacity.
To the north, Germany saw over half of its electricity consumption fulfilled by renewables in H1 this year.
PV Tech’s publisher Solar Media is holding the Large Scale Solar Southern Europe event in Athens this week.