PV in Italy: Sunny Future But Slow and Chaotic Start

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=46412

The Italian PV market is still in its infancy but is likely to grow rapidly from 2006 onwards. It has the potential to become one of the world's most important PV markets. This is just one of the conclusions in SolarPlaza's recent market survey, "The Italian PV Market."

The national government launched a feed-in tariff for solar energy systems in July 2005 with a 20 year payment guarantee. The attractive financial incentives (national and regional), the good climatic conditions and the availability of free land create excellent conditions for rapid growth.

The current market situation (Q3 2006) is slightly chaotic due to the enormous over subscription of the feed-in tariff incentives during the early part of 2006 and the yearly limit. The government, advised by the solar industry association GIFI, is currently assessing this system.

The total installed power of PV systems in Italy by the end of 2005 was 36 megawatt-peak (MWp). Current estimates for 2006 are 30-53 MWp. The government target is to have 1000 MWp installed by 2015. The total budget of the government for the feed-in-tariff is 500 MWp, 360 of which is available for PV systems with a capacity <50 kilowatt-peak (kWp) and 140 MWp for PV systems with a capacity >50 kWp.

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