In Italy, land occupied by photovoltaics is 0.99% of the land actually consumed

Soil consumption is one of the most serious among the “eternal emergencies” weighing on Italy, a country that lacks even a law to curb the problem. The consequences are evident. According to data compiled by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra) and the National System for Environmental Protection (Snpa), the past year marked a record pace of soil consumption, which increased by another 102 square kilometers at a rate exceeding three square meters per second, despite a declining population.

When a law does exist—in this case, an EU regulation—it is not being respected. The new European Nature Restoration Regulation imposes legally binding constraints on 2,761 Italian municipalities, requiring that the net loss of the total area of urban green spaces and tree canopy cover be reduced to zero by 2030 compared to levels recorded in 2024, followed by a progressive net increase in both areas until satisfactory levels are reached. One year after the Regulation entered into force, nearly 80% of the municipalities subject to the rule (2,183) have instead recorded a net increase in land consumption, with only 578 municipalities able to guarantee a balance that is zero or negative.

The result? At the national level in 2025, impermeabilized surfaces reached 7.19% of the national area: 21,644 square kilometers are covered by buildings, infrastructure, parking lots, facilities, and other artificial surfaces. Going into more detail, the report explains that land consumption stems from multiple factors: data on new artificial coverages allow for distinguishing the fraction of changes attributable to impermeabilization (permanent land consumption) from other forms of soil removal or artificialization (reversible land consumption).

The areas designated for new construction sites (5,387 hectares) constitute the predominant component (52.6%) of annual land consumption. These are generally transitional areas that will largely be converted in subsequent years into areas with permanent artificial cover (such as buildings and infrastructure) and, to a lesser extent, restored. Among other categories, the growth of buildings in 2025 amounted to 725 hectares (7.1% of the total), a figure that rises to over 1,160 hectares when buildings detected on pre-existing construction sites are also included. Extractive areas increased by 392 hectares, infrastructure by 506 hectares (of which 271 hectares on natural soils in 2024), and other artificial covers such as paved lots, courtyards, sports fields, or landfills by 1,230 hectares (of which 676 hectares on natural soils in 2024). Excluding new construction site areas, permanent consumption accounts for 35% of the total, with a predominance of buildings, paved lots, and roads.

According to the report, ground-mounted photovoltaic panels (+2,798 hectares, equivalent to approximately 12,570 MW) account for a significant portion of the new reversible land consumption, showing a sharp increase compared to the +1,700 hectares mapped in 2024, the +420 hectares mapped in 2023, the +263 hectares in 2022, and the +75 hectares in 2021, although impacts vary depending on the type of installation. Meanwhile, wind farms are attributed with a land consumption of +118 hectares in 2025, distributed among unpaved areas (58%), unpaved roads (41%), and impermeabilized surfaces (attributable to wind turbine foundations; just over 1%).

Looking at ground-mounted photovoltaic installations, not just those installed in the past year, the report states that approximately 21,368 hectares are covered by panels: 213.68 square kilometers, or 0.99% of the land “consumed” in Italy (the 21,644 square kilometers mentioned above). However, it is inappropriate to equate solar panels with a spread of concrete or asphalt. The report only partially does so, as it attributes “reversible” land consumption to photovoltaics. Yet environmentalists have long spoken directly of “temporary” land occupation, not consumption.

Time is not an irrelevant variable in addressing the climate crisis, which is today the primary threat to landscapes and biodiversity, nor is the high cost of energy bills. Making room for ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) systems means guaranteeing alternative income sources for farmers who choose to make their land available, accelerating the ecological transition, and also improving the health of biodiversity. And while it is true that there is no shortage of space to install the (necessary) panels on rooftops – the report notes that “by utilizing available buildings, there would be room for a PV capacity between 140 and 193 GW” – it is regrettable to observe that large-scale ground-mounted PV plants (utility scale) are capable of producing electricity three times more economically than rooftop systems, and that while it is not easy or quick to find available ground space today, it is even more complicated to accelerate installations by fragmenting them across many small property holdings for buildings. It is therefore worth making room for ground-mounted PV, because – as already extensively explained in these columns by researcher Luigi Moccia – both the climate and biodiversity benefit.

...the country's economy, and the wallets of its citizens.

"The legislature that is coming to an end," commented Stefano Ciafani, national president of Legambiente, "has been marked by the approval of the agriculture decree, which banned ground-mounted photovoltaics. As is well known, photovoltaic installations use land but do not consume it. In contrast, new data centers and logistics hubs, new highway infrastructure, residential or industrial areas can be easily built on agricultural land, which, in these cases, will be lost forever. This is a serious contradiction that the country can no longer afford if we truly want to stop land consumption."

In the coming years, it will be necessary to develop photovoltaic and agrivoltaic parks on increasingly large areas of agricultural land. This is an unavoidable necessity for the climate and for the energy system we want to be free from fossil fuels, and it can be done without any "loss" of soil or the ecosystem services that soil provides. For this reason, planning is needed that takes on the task of evenly distributing suitable areas across the national territory, even though the various regional laws approved in recent months unfortunately do not go in this direction. It is also important that minimum mandatory requirements for good soil management in photovoltaic installations are defined, so that the soil continues to support plant and animal biodiversity even during the operation of the facility, and that at the end of its life, after the dismantling of the ground-mounted system, the same soil can return to hosting agricultural crops without suffering any loss of fertility. There is really no need to stigmatize the use of land for the production of renewable energy; it is a productive use, on par with traditional agricultural crops. For both of these productions, of solar energy

“Or of food raw materials, we ask the same thing: to use the land well, without damaging it or compromising its health,” concludes Damiano Di Simine, head of the soil department at Legambiente.