EF Solare Italia is committed to contribute to national energy safety thanks to the construction of new plants and the entry into network services connected to assets thanks to storage application.
PHOTOVOLTAIC WILL CONTINUE GROWING TOWARDS NEW CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
The photovoltaic market continues its expansion on a global level, thanks to the constant decrease in costs, pushed by the ambitious generation targets set by the governments of large economies for the coming decades. The production of energy from solar power is key to compensate part of the conventional generation capacity – which will have to be abandoned in the decarbonization process. However, PV energy will still have to face various challenges along the way.
2019 started in the wake of the solid results of 2018: according to data reported in the Global Market Outlook 2019-2023 by SolarPower Europe, last year, the global solar market exceeded the threshold of 100 GW of annual installations, reaching a total operational capacity of over 500 GW. These results were achieved despite the growth rate – 4% per year – which has slowed its pace compared to previous years. The slowdown was mainly due to the Chinese market bust.
Looking at a European Union of 28 member states, the solar market represented 39% of the new 8 GW installed capacity. In addition, the average scenario pictured by the Outlook has estimated that the European PV market is expected to reach 20.4 GW of new installed capacity in 2019, aiming at 24.1 GW for 2020.
In Italy, according to the Renewable Energy Report 2019 by the Energy&Strategy Group of Milan Polytechnic’s School of Management, last year a total 437 MW PV generation capacity was installed and, for the first time in years, it was overcome by wind power with 511 MW of new capacity. Overall, the whole national renewable energy sector has brought good results: the Italian total capacity exceeded 54 GW, ad now represents 45% of the Italian generation portfolio, to which traditional sources didn’t contribute over the last year. In 2018, renewable energy sources covered 18.1% of energy consumption – including households and transports.
In the first quarter of 2019, a new positive figure was registered: a growth by 5.3% compared to the first quarter of 2018. In particular, a significant growth was registered by the PV market, increased by 35.6%: today it covers 6.4% of demand compared to 4.6 of last year.
Despite good results, the growth in the coming years must be higher: according to the Global Energy Transformation Report by IRENA, renewable energy must grow at least six times faster in order to achieve the decarbonization and climate mitigation targets set by the Paris agreement. According to the Agency, the good news is that renewable energy will be cheaper than traditional: according to another study, Renewable Power Generation Costs, the weighted average cost has already decreased in 2018 for all kinds of sources, with concentrated solar power (CSP) down 26% and PV down 13%. IRENA estimates that 80% of PV projects will be activated next year and they will generate a more competitive energy compared to the energy produced by other sources.
EF Solare Italia, as main PV energy provider of the country, is committed to contribute to national energy safety thanks to the growth of its production portfolio, through the construction of new plants and the entry into network services connected to assets thanks to storage application.