Italy's cumulative photovoltaic capacity exceeds 40GW!

This data comes from the latest Italian solar installation data released by the industry association Italia Solare, covering the first seven months of this year.

According to the data, by 2025, Italy will have added 3.35 GW of installed capacity, covering 132,276 new PV systems, a slight slowdown compared to the 6.8 GW added in 2024.

Italia Solare noted that last year, after the end of the "Superbonus" program, which incentivized residential solar installations, the balance between large-scale ground-mounted and small-scale solar projects in Italy began to tilt more towards the latter.

This trend appears to be continuing in 2025. The industry association reports that Italy added 88 MW of residential solar capacity per month in the first half of this year. At this rate, Italy will add 1,056 MW of residential capacity in 2025. This compares to 1,789 MW of residential capacity added in 2024 and 2,258 MW in 2023. Between 2023 and 2024, residential capacity additions slowed, declining 21% year-over-year, while large-scale ground-mounted installations increased 163%. However, Italia Solare noted that monthly residential capacity additions are still four times higher than before the 2020 "Super Incentive" program took effect, which the association said "indicates continued strong demand."

Italia Solare President Paolo Rocco Viscontini said: "Today, photovoltaics are no longer a fringe option but a vital component of our country's energy infrastructure."

"It is time to accelerate mechanisms to support the combination of self-consumption and storage, overcome the bureaucratic and legislative delays that hinder the development of an energy system based on clean technologies, and ensure that energy prices remain low and stable in the long term," he added.

Lombardy leads all regions in cumulative installed capacity

Perhaps unsurprisingly, regions with longer average annual sunshine hours also have more installed capacity. For example, the southwestern city of Bari, home to Italy's longest average annual sunshine hours, boasts nearly 4 GW of cumulative installed capacity in Puglia. However, Italia Solare noted that much of Italy's solar installations are concentrated in more populous regions, reflecting greater electricity demand. As shown in the figure below, Lombardy will have the highest installed capacity, exceeding 5.4 GW, by July 2025. This region will also be Italy's most populous in 2023, with a population exceeding 10 million.

Similarly, Lazio and Campania, both with populations exceeding 5 million in 2023, will have cumulative installed solar capacity of 3.8 GW and 1.7 GW, respectively, ranking fifth and ninth among regions in terms of total installed capacity.

Enthusiasm for new project development remains high in Italy. The most recent government tender, held in July, received over 1,300 bids for approximately 17.5 GW of new solar capacity. The government stated that up to 8 GW of capacity will be awarded, significantly exceeding the capacity awarded in the previous two tenders, which awarded 278.5 MW and 321.6 MW, respectively.