Italy targets 93 GW of renewable capacity by 2030

The Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) has submitted to the European Commission the National Integrated Plan for Climate and Energy 2030. This plan sets a renewable capacity target of 93,194 MW for 2030, including 50,880 MW of solar (of which 880 MW of CSP), 19,200 MW of hydropower, 18,400 MW of wind (of which, 900 MW of offshore wind) and 3,764 MW of bioenergy. This should represent a total renewable power generation of 187 TWh in 2030 (including 74 TWh of solar, 49 TWh of hydropower and 40 TWh of wind), i.e. 55% of the estimated electricity consumption in 2030.



The plan also stated the country's main climate goals for 2020 and 2030. Renewables will account for 17% of overall domestic energy consumption by 2020 and 30% by 2030; they will account for 10% of the energy consumption in the transportation sector by 2020 (21.6% by 2030). Energy efficiency improvements targets are set at 24% for 2020 and at 43% for 2030. In parallel, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are expected to be reduced by 13% by 2020 for all non- EU ETS (European Union Emissions Trading Scheme) sectors and by 33% by 2030 (for ETS sectors, the European objective is a 21% reduction by 2020 and a 43% reduction by 2030).



The MISE already released an updated version of the National Energy Strategy 2017 (Strategia Energetica Nazionale or SEN) in November 2017, where it stated its intention to phase out from coal by 2025 and to ensure renewables would account for 28% of the overall domestic energy consumption (from 17.5% in 2015) and for 21% of the energy consumption in the transportation sector by 2030 (up from 6.5% in 2015). The cost of early retirement of around 8 GW of coal-fired capacity was estimated at €3.8-4bn, while the overall energy strategy could generate €175bn investments through 2030. Italy intends to reduce oil product consumption by 13 Mtoe by 2030 and to improve energy efficiency by 30%.



The goal is to decarbonise the energy system in line with the long term objectives of the Paris Agreement. However, gas would still play a significant role in Italy's energy mix and will be the key in the energy transition, in the power sector and in the maritime transport (LNG) according to the document. Italy plans to promote new gas import pipelines such as the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) with Azerbaijan or the EastMed gas pipeline to import gas from the eastern Mediterranean area; the construction of new LNG terminals will not be encouraged.