The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the shutdown of commercial and industrial sectors for an extended period across several countries and Italy is no exception. However, demand for electricity in the country will gradually show an increasing trend in the second half of the year as more industries restart their manufacturing activity, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Annual electricity demand in Italy is expected to drop by 6.8% to reach 280.4 TWh this year, according to Terna estimates. The current macroeconomic trend suggests that the economy will revive in 2021 and there will be an increase in electricity consumption by 3.8% from 2020 levels in 2021.”

Electricity distributors in Italy witnessed reduced demand in the first four months of 2020 when compared with the same period last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Electricity consumption in Italy declined by 7.5% in January–April 2020 when compared with the same period of 2019, according to Terna S.p.A. The last two weeks of April saw a rise in consumption as essential industries and businesses restarted operations. However, the overall electricity consumption reduced by 9.8% when compared to the same period during 2019.

Das continues: “COVID-19 also impacted the construction activities of solar and wind projects in Italy. Annual installations for solar PV in Italy will be 30% less compared to last year and for wind, it is expected to be 28% lower than 2019. Delays in equipment supply and installations due to shortage of labor are the key reasons for this decline.”