In 2023the demand for electricity in Italy was equal to 306.1 billion kWh. Therefore, compared to 2022, Italian electricity consumption fell by 2.8%. This is what emerges from Terna’s new report which summarizes last year’s performance.
The decline in energy demand, the report highlights, is the result of strong negative variations in the first half of last year which gradually gave way to moderate positive variations starting from September. Terna explains:
This trend, however, is a consequence of the comparison with the past year, which was characterized by a significant reduction in demand in the second half of the year as a consequence of the energy crisis. Analyzing the temporal trend of demand, it is therefore clear that the reduction observed starting from the second half of 2022 has remained substantially unchanged to date, remaining at levels consistently lower than the previous historical trend.
The IMCEI index was also negative developed by Terna, which examines the industrial consumption of approximately 1,000 “energy-intensive” companies. Specifically, a decline of 3.9% was recorded.
In 2023, one was registered growth in production from renewable sources (+15.4%). At the same time, the net foreign balance also grew (+19.2%) as a result of a sharp decrease in exports (-24.4%) and an increase in imports (+15.2%). In Italy, a contraction was recorded in thermoelectric production (-17.4%) and, in particular, in coal-fired production (-41.7%).
The contraction in coal-fired production is also a consequence of the interruption, during 2023, of the initiatives to maximize the use of coal-fired power plants implemented during the most critical period of the gas crisis. Relative to the contraction in thermoelectric production, in 2023 there was also a saving in gas compared to last year of approximately 4 billion standard cubic metres.
More specifically, the demand for Italian electricity in 2023 was satisfied for 83.3% with national production and for the remaining portion (16.7%) from the balance of energy exchanged with foreign countries. Net national production of 257 billion kWh decreased by 6.4% compared to 2022. Hydro (+36.1), wind (+15.1%) and photovoltaic (+ 10.6%); thermal (-17.4%) and geothermal (-1.9%) decreased. Last year, renewables covered 36.8% of energy demand (31% in 2022). The value is increasing thanks to the positive trend contribution of all sources and, in particular, hydroelectric production.
Considering all renewable sources, in 2023 there were new activations of approximately 5.8 GW, a value approximately 2.7 GW higher than in 2022.
The data underlines the acceleration in the development of renewables: in fact, we have gone from new activations equal to 1 GW in 2021, to around 3 GW in 2022. In addition, according to Terna data updated to 31 December 2023, there are around 6 GW which have obtained the Minimum Definitive Technical Solution for connection to the national electricity grid.
As for the month of December 2023, the demand for electricity recorded a positive trend (+0.8%). The IMCEI index relating to industrial consumption recorded a change of +2.1% in December 2023 compared to December 2022.
Net national production (20.5 billion kWh) decreased by 7.7% compared to December 2022. Renewables, in this month, covered 34.5% of the monthly requirement (27.6% in December 2022).
2024-01-23 20:37:30
#Terna #electricity #consumption #falling #Renewables
