Record renewables: more than half of energy demand in May

Favourable weather, but also many investments favoured by tax bonuses. These are the two reasons behind the boom in renewable energy production in May in Italy: they covered more than half of the electricity demand, 52.5 per cent. It is the highest monthly value ever.

Thanks to hydroelectricity fuelled by abundant rain and snow, and photovoltaics proliferated thanks to the Superbonus. Terna, the public company that manages the electricity grid, announced the numbers today. Adding an important fact: in the first five months of 2024, 3 Gigawatt of new renewable power were installed. Last year, 6 Gw were installed. For this year, the government's goal is to reach 8 Gigawatts. A goal that seems achievable at the moment.

In May this year, compared to the same month in 2023, hydroelectric (+34.7%), photovoltaic (+36.3%) and wind power (+10.5%) increased. According to Terna, the increase in photovoltaics (+1,062 GWh) is due to the increase in operating capacity (+669 GWh) and higher radiation (+393 GWh). As is well known, the Superbonus at 110% multiplied solar panels on cottages and apartment blocks, and the dry and sunny winter and spring in the South did the rest. Hydropower benefited from the abundant snow in the Alps and Apennines and the rainy spring in the North.

The boom in renewables in these five months of 2025 caused thermoelectric production from gas and coal to drop by 14.6%. In May, coal covered just 1% of electricity demand, and has remained below 2% since the beginning of the year. The objective of the national energy plan, the Pniec, is to cease electricity production from this fossil source in 2025, with an exemption for Sardinia until 2027.

Meanwhile, renewables continue to grow in Italy. In the first five months of 2024, Terna reports, renewable capacity in operation in Italy increased by 3.015 Gigawatts, 42% more than in the same period of 2023. This is thanks to the 110% Superbonus, but also to the unblocking of authorisation procedures initiated by the Draghi government and continued by the Meloni government. "In 2024 we estimate to exceed 8 Gigawatts of new renewables installed and 10 Gigawatts of authorisations," Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto said last week. The 3 Gigawatts in the first five months of 2024 bodes well, but the end of the Superbonus effect still has to be assessed.