Renewable energy developed rapidly in Italy between 2005 and 2023, nearly doubling, and provided the country with a means of diversifying from its historical dependency on imported fuels. Solar power accounted for around 17% of the total electric production in the country in 2025. Rapid growth in the deployment of solar, wind, and bio energy in recent years has led to Italy producing over 41% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2025, and adding 7.48 GW (7,480 MW ) capacity in 2024.
The share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption (all energy uses) had risen to 19.6% in 2023. In 2025, Italy's electricity consumption was at 311 TWh, with 41% of the national electric energy consumption coming from renewable sources (in 2005 this value was 15.4%). The corresponding figure for electricity generation was even higher, as consumption figures are reduced by electricity imports (15% of the total in 2025). Imported electricity may also contain a high proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources, but these are not accounted for in consumption figures.
All 7,895 Italian municipalities (comune) have deployed some source of renewable energy, with hydroelectric power being the leading renewable energy source in terms of energy production. Bio energy, wind power, and geothermal power also make an important contribution to national energy demands.
Italy implemented generous incentive schemes to encourage the development of renewable energy production. Its largest scheme incentivised solar PV production and led Italy from a low base of installed PV in 2010 to become the world's fourth largest country by installations by the end of 2014, ahead of the US at that time. All sources of renewable energy have grown in Italy during recent years, and many continue to receive incentives. Italy has become one of the world's largest producers of renewable energy, ranking as the third largest generator in the European Union and the tenth in the. Though despite this, Italy has been said to be lagging behind other EU nations when it comes to transitioning to renewable energy, with reasons pointing to infrastructure and policy issues within the government.
History The urge to produce exclusively green energy in Italy came from the need to reduce the country's historical heavy dependence on fossil fuels and supply flows of hydrocarbons coming from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and to comply with the binding international agreements of the Kyoto Protocol (signed in 1997 and implemented in 2005).
During the twentieth century, Italy was at the forefront of technological development and the production of energy from renewable sources. In the field of geothermal energy, the first plant dates back to 1904, at Larderello in Tuscany, where in 1913 the first geothermal power plant was also built, and remained the only one in the world until 1958. With regards to hydropower, the first plant in Europe was built in Paderno d'Adda in Lombardy between 1895 and 1898. In the solar energy industry, the first power plant (that could produce steam at 450 °C) was built in Genoa in 1963, and in 1980 the first solar power tower that uses mirrors was built at Adrano in Sicily. As for the production of wind power, the first experimental projects (sponsored by the National Research Council and in collaboration with Enel) were started in the second half of the seventies as part of the restructuring of the entire system of production and supply of energy that followed the 1973 and 1979 energy crisis.
During the eighties and the nineties renewable energy projects drew new life from three co-occurring factors: the rapid price increase of crude oil (caused by the tension and armed conflicts in the Middle East and Persian Gulf); a new public awareness of environmentalism (fuelled by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986); and the interruption of all construction of nuclear power plants in Italy and the ban on Enel on the participating in the construction or management of nuclear power plants beyond national borders (following the referendum of 1987).
Renewable energy by sector
All EU countries as well as Iceland and Norway submitted National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) to outline the steps taken, and projected progress by each country between 2010 and 2020 to meet the Renewable Energy Directive. Each plan contains a detailed breakdown of each country's current renewable energy usage and plans for future developments. According to projections by the Italian submission by 2020 the gross final energy consumption in Italy by sector breaks down as follows.
SectorProjected energy use in 2020 (ktoe)Renewable share target for 2020 Heating and cooling 61,18517.09% Electricity 32,22726.39% Transport 33,97210.14% Gross final energy consumption* 133,04217.00%* Including losses and adjustments
Excluding losses and adjustments almost half of energy consumption (48%) is used in the heating and cooling sector. The heating and cooling sector (also known as the thermal sector) includes domestic heating and air conditioning, industrial processes such as furnaces and any use of heat generally. The next largest share is the transport sector at 26.7%, followed closely by the electricity sector at 25.3%. The proportion of energy use in each sector is similar to that of 2016. In order to meet Italy's overall target for 17% use of renewable energy in Gross final energy consumption (22,617 ktoes) by 2020 targets have been set for each sector as follows: 17% renewable energy use in the heating and cooling sector, 26% in the electricity sector and 10% in the transport sector (see targets below for further details). Total annual energy consumption is projected to be 133,042 ktoe (133 million tonnes of oil equivalent) by 2020.
The energy measures above are gross final energy consumption. Another broader measure, primary energy consumption also includes energy used in the extraction of fuels (the energy sector) and energy lost in transformation (the transformation sector, i.e. converting heat to electricity in power plants or fuel energy to heat in heating plants) as well as gross final energy consumption for end users. Under the European Union Energy Efficiency Directive, EU countries submit their Energy Efficiency PlansEnergy Efficiency Plans every three years. According to Italy's submission in 2014 the country's total final energy consumption in 2012 was 119.01 Mtoes whilst its primary energy consumption was 163.05 Mtoes. Most of the approximately 37% difference is accounted for in losses in the transformation sector. These losses are likely to be most prevalent in thermal electricity sectors, thus the use of renewable electricity will reduce emissions and fuels lost in the energy and transformation sectors as well as those in final consumption.
Electricity sector
Renewable electricity by source Share of total gross electricity production in Italy in 2023Hydroelectric15.9%Solar11.6Wind8.9%Geothermal2.2%Total renewable38.6%
In 2023 renewable electricity provided around 38% of Italy's total gross electricity production, a similar number to the one reported in 2015, but with biomass burning no longer counted as renewable. Hydroelectric power continued to provide the largest single source of renewable energy generated electricity in 2023 at around 16% of national production much the same as 2015. Photovoltaic generation provided the next largest share at around 12%, up from 8% in 2015. Wind power almost doubled from 5% to nearly 9%. Geothermal power remained stable since 2015 at 2.2%. The overall change between 2015 and 2023 was therefore the conversion of 8% of total electricity generation from hydrocarbon burning to wind and solar.
Growth of renewable electricity Between 2005 and 2011 a surge in renewable energy investments and production took place in Italy, particularly in wind and solar energy during the latter years. Total electricity produced from solar PV quintupled in 2011 compared to the previous year. This was mainly due to a drop in costs and to high incentives introduced since 2005.See also (in Italian): Conto energia. The Italian fossil fuel electricity generation sector underwent a profound crisis. Many Italian power plants burning fossil fuels were running at half capacity and others were in the process of being shut down.
+Renewable gross electricity production (GWh) from renewable sources in Italy, 2010–2015*Total gross generation**HydroSolarWindGeothermalBio energyTotal renewable% of total gross generation (est.)2010278,19651,1171,9069,1265,3769,44076,96527.7%2011279,00945,82310,7969,8565,65410,83282,96129.7%2012283,22041,87518,86213,4075,59212,48792,22332.6%2013289,80352,77321,58914,8975,65917,090112,00838.6%2014279,82958,54522,30615,1785,91618,732120,67743.1%2015***281,35443,90222,84714,8836,16018,894106,68637.9%* Figures in italics represent near estimates. Data for Hydro, Solar, Wind, Geothermal and Bio Energy 2010-2015 from GSE.it, figures for 2015 preliminary estimates.GSE.it, Energia da fonti rinnovabili in Italia Dati preliminari 2015** Data for Gross generation for years 2010-2014, from Terna.it, General Data 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014 *** Gross generation for 2015 estimated from Net generation figuresTERNA, Rapporto Mesile sul Sistema Elettrico consuntivo December 2015 (and using same ratio between gross and net generation as 2013 figures).
Generation by renewables grew from 76,965 GWh in 2010 to 106,686 GWh by 2015. Non hydroelectric renewable electricity more than doubled during the period growing from 25,848 GWh in 2010 to 62,748 GWh in 2015, a rise from around 9.3% to 22.3% of total gross generation. The largest increase in production took place in solar generated electricity followed by bio energy production. Wind power rose by a little over 60% during the period whilst geothermal production rose by a little under 15%. Normalised (averaged) hydroelectric statistics suggest a slight upward trend in generation despite wet and dry years influencing the overall production in any given year. Bio energy includes production from biomass, biogas, bioliquids and the renewable share of municipal waste used as fuel in waste-to-energy generation. Further information on bioenergy production is available under the heading "Sources" below.
Electricity production potential from renewables has been rising, but hydroelectric production figures vary considerably from one year to the next, which accounts for the fall in 2015. Production of electricity from renewable sources reached a record in 2014 of around 43% of total gross electricity generation. In 2015 production from wind, photovoltaic and geothermal sources almost matched hydroelectric production for the first time.
Installed capacity +Total renewable electricity installed capacity, Italy 2010-2019 (MW)HydroWindSolarGeothermalBio energyTotal201017,8765,8143,4707722,35230,284201118,0926,93612,7737722,82541,398201218,2328,11916,6907723,80247,614201318,3668,56118,1857734,03349,919201418,4188,70318,6098214,04450,595201518,5439,16218,8928214,05751,475201618,6419,41019,2698154,12452,258201718,8629,76619,6828134,13553,259201821,90010,30020,100440056,700201921,90010,80020,900480058,400202419,60012,99037,0008174,06174,508
The total installed capacity of renewable electricity sources grew from 30,284 MW in 2010 to 74,508 MW by 2024. The greatest increase was in solar power, which passed 40GW in August 2025. Wind power grew fairly strongly over the period but was overtaken by solar in 2011. Hydroelectricity is a mature technology in Italy.
Heating and cooling sector
+Renewable energy in the heating and cooling sector, 2014Source(ktoe)Estimated share of total sector (all sources)Biomass7,04513.4%of which: solid biomass6,646- 12.6 % biogas283-0.5 % bio liquids31- 0.1 %Municipal share of renewable waste850.2%RE from heat pumps2,5804.9%Solar1800.3%Geothermal1300.2%Total9,93418.89%