Utility-scale leads as Italy adds 4.4 GWh of energy storage in nine months

Italy’s Anie said the boost for small-scale energy storage systems provided by the country’s renovation “superbonus” is over.

The tax credit, which initially offered a 110% rebate for the cost of qualifying energy efficiency building renovation, lifted sales of home batteries but Anie’s Storage Systems Observatory has said the latest rise in national energy storage capacity was chiefly down to large-scale facilities.

Commenting on the energy storage statistics, Anie said, “Comparing the data for the first nine months of 2024 with the same period in 2023, a further slowdown in the residential segment emerges.” The industry body said home battery installations fell by a quarter in January-to-September 2024, the rated power of installed systems fell 31%, and the capacity of the batteries added was down 29%.

With the equivalent commercial and industrial energy storage figures falling 18% in terms of installations, 29% in terms of power, and 11% in terms of storage capacity, respectively, Anie said utility-scale energy storage is driving growth in the sector.

Anie said large-scale storage installations rose 133% in the first nine months of the year, total rated power was up 532%, and total energy storage capacity rose 2,877%. The trade body said those rises were helped by utility-scale batteries trading on energy markets on a merchant basis – rather than under fixed offtake deals – and by energy storage sites established under the capacity market auctions held to ensure the Italian grid meets supply.

As of Sep. 30, 2024, Italy had a cumulative 692,386 energy storage systems, with a total rated power of 5,034 MW and an energy storage capacity of 11,388 MWh. Almost all of the systems – 92% – had a capacity of less than 20 kWh, 99.9% were twinned with solar panels, and 99.1% were home installations.

Anie reported Italy added 168,550 energy storage units from January to the end of September 2024, with a total rated power of 1,591 MW and a capacity of 4,387 MWh.

Anie stated, “Lombardy is the region with the largest number of installed systems: 122,139 … for a [total] power of 771 MW and a capacity of 1,538 MWh; followed by Veneto (85,527 [installations] for 545 MW and 1,203 MWh [respectively]); and Emilia-Romagna (65,048 [units] for 531 MW and 1,330 MWh, [respectively]).

Red tape

The association noted regulatory complexity, stating, “The market is in a state of turmoil awaiting the publication, in the Official Journal, of the legislative decree relating to administrative procedures, the … ‘consolidated law on FER.’” FER legislation refers to government schemes to subsidize renewable energy projects, with Anie referring to the wait for the final FER 2 decree.

Anie said, “The document, filed with the parliamentary commissions, does not unambiguously clarify the authorization process that must be undertaken for the different configurations of [energy] storage systems, unlike the regulatory framework currently in force, nor does it clarify how the transitional period and the retroactive scope of the new rules will be managed.”

The trade body added that although energy market operator the Gestore dei Mercati Energetici S.p.A. (GME) has published the results of a consultation exercise into primary and secondary markets for the time-shifting of electricity supply, it did not supply the related technical operation provisions, detailing how the market would function. The GME forsees two load-shifting markets, one for projects commissioned under the national MACSE tender to allocate, and subsidize, energy storage sites and another for non-subsidized facilities.

Anie’s proposals

Anie has asked the GME for more detailed market information to adopt “a level of transparency of market information similar to what occurs in energy markets and not in an anonymous and aggregate form.”

The body’s renewables division has drafted proposals related to the awaited Consolidated FER Act, to clarify how any transitional period to the new system for renewables subsidy should be handled.

“Anie Rinnovabili has presented amendments aimed at establishing that the changes introduced will only apply to projects submitted after the law came into force, and not to pending authorization procedures,” wrote Anie. “It then highlighted the critical issues of potential conflicts of jurisdiction between administrations if, following the changes made, the pending procedure must continue with an administration other than the one that was in charge of the authorization procedure under the previous legislation. Finally, it underlined the need to take into account the fact that regions and autonomous provinces will need time to harmonize their own law with the national law.”

The electrical company industry body wants applicants to have the option of following previous FER legislation or of adopting the new rules if regions and provinces do not adopt the new legislation within six months of it coming into effect.

“Without these, appropriate interventions, there is a risk of creating chaos between market operators and public administration,” added Anie.

From pv magazine Italia.