Italy’s solar developers must ‘act now to embrace storage or fall behind’

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
The belief in energy storage’s central role in the Italian solar transition extended to various speakers at Italia Solare’s London session (Image credit: Solar Media)

The colossal solar boom Italy wants to drive in a decade could lie beyond reach if developers do not act to embrace energy storage more decisively, industry players have argued at a recent event.

A recent session by association Italia Solare examined whether the country that used feed-in tariffs (FiTs) in the 2000s to build Europe’s second top PV market can now reverse years of standstill, using new contracts-for-difference auctions to boost installed capacity from 20GW-plus to 55GW in a decade.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Giles Clark, who chairs a working group on large-scale solar at UK PV trade body STA, did not appear optimistic on Italy’s utility-scale prospects. “As an investor, I would not look at [Italian] large ground-mounted projects except under very special circumstances,” he told the London event. “People who will build large will be subject to the whims of markets, plus permitting rules in farming land.”

Clark seemed, however, more bullish on the economics of energy storage, which he described as the “elephant in the room”.

“We’ve hardly spoken about the subject and yet people who are able to deploy storage will make money,” he remarked. “Batteries will help stabilise prices and the big question for Italian PV owners is – do you own the battery or do you rely on the market?”

To read the full version of this story, visit our sister site, PV Tech. 

Read Next

Premium
July 4, 2025
PNM is seeking regulatory approval of offtake agreements associated with three hybrid battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.
July 4, 2025
Private equity firm KKR investment vehicle ContourGloblal has acquired BESS projects in Italy totalling 1.6GW of power and up to 9.5GWh of capacity, with an eye on the MACSE auctions in September.
June 30, 2025
Globeleq and African Rainbow Energy have reached commercial close on the 612MWh Red Sands BESS in South Africa.
June 26, 2025
A new partnership aims to deploy an integrated solution combining solar PV with sodium-ion batteries at commercial and industrial (C&I) sites in Southeast Asia.
Premium
June 25, 2025
Intersect Power has become the latest player in the energy storage space to feel the adverse effects of tariff increases and policy uncertainty.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter