Electrical Energy: the Italian and the international landscapes
April 2019
The electricity sector is experiencing profound changes linked to the energy transition and the decarbonisation themes, with Italy and Europe playing a central role. Globally, the electrical energy production by Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is showing an impressive growth. However, the production is still dominated by traditional energy sources. The objective of this report is to provide a summary of the electrical energy situation in Italy in 2018 as well as to compare it with the European and international scenarios.
- The electrical energy production in Italy in 2018 was 280,234 GWh, with a reduction of 1.8% compared to 2017.
- The production of electricity by RES was 112,847 GWh in 2018 in Italy (equal to the 40.3% of the total) and with an increase of 4.2% compared to 2017.
- At European level, Italy is among the Countries with the highest share of renewables in its electricity generation mix (37% in 2017).
- Globally, the electricity production in 2018 was equal to 26,673,000 GWh (with Italy representing about 1.1% of the total).
- The global electricity production by coal was the main contributor with 38% of the total, followed by gas (23%) and hydro (16%) in 2018. Photovoltaics (PV) and wind represented a small portion, 2% and 5% respectively.
- In 2018, the electricity production by RES grew faster compared to the other energy sources. In particular, PV was in the first place (+31% vs 2017), followed by wind (+12%) and bioenergy (+7%).
- The production of electrical energy by RES in 2018 was 6,800,000 GWh globally (with Italy representing about 1.7%).
- China plays a key role, with the biggest share of the overall electricity production by RES in 2018 (27%), followed by Europe (22%) and USA (11%). China was also the country with the biggest growth compared to 2017 (+10.9%), followed by India (+10.6%) and Europe (+8.5%).
