(Photo credit: Enel Green Power Media).
Renewables at 41.8% of electricity demand in March. Excellent news: the way to pay less for energy is to increase the share of clean energy.
Renewable at 41.8%, and more can be given
Italians have the privilege of having an electricity price (and top-ups at the charging station) among the most expensive in Europe. We import more than a fifth of the energy we consume. But we could push investments in renewables to have several positive effects: lower prices per kWh, improve the trade balance and benefit from cleaner energyto.
We can do it? Enel he says we can easily get to the 60% of coverage. And the latest data released a few days ago by Terna say that this is a goal that can be reached without too much difficulty. The latest data is encouraging: that 41.8% compares with the 33% of March 2023. An increase mainly due to a sharp increase in water source (+140.4%). Substantially stable photovoltaic (+1.4%): the growth in installed power was partially nullified by the lower radiation compared to last year. Geothermal energy is growing (+4.1%) and wind energy is decreasing (-5.7%).
An Italy that runs on coal? Nope, production down 87%
Another positive sign is the decline in thermal sources as a direct consequence of the growth of renewables and imports from abroad: -24% compared to March 2023. In particular, explains Terna in its monthly analysis, a is observed collapse of coal production: -87.1%. On social media we continue to read that production from renewables is irrelevant and that we continue to burn a lot of coal, but… exactly the opposite is true.
Investments in wind and photovoltaic systems continue unabated, also challenging a Authorization process often exhausting. “In the first three months of 2024, the growth in renewables recorded in 2023 continues, equal to 1,844 MW (of which 1,721 MW of photovoltaic). This value is 633 MW higher (+52%) compared to the same period of the previous year“, confirms Terna. Explaining that in general “in March electricity consumption in Italy was decreased by 1.4% compared to the same month of 2023“.
