Italy Installs 4.83 GW of Solar Power in First Nine Months of 2026

As of September 30, more than 2.31 million installations were connected, totaling 48.35 GW. Utility-scale and the commercial and industrial sectors are growing, while the residential segment remains under observation. Energy storage capacity has reached nearly 20 GWh.

Italy's solar photovoltaic sector continues to grow, but new capacity is increasingly concentrated in large-scale installations and the commercial and industrial segment. In the first nine months of 2026, 147,632 new installations were connected, with a total declared capacity of 4,834 MW. As of September 30, according to data processed by Italia Solare from Terna's Gaudì database, there were 2,314,113 connected photovoltaic installations in Italy, with a total capacity of 48,347 MW.

The third quarter contributed 1,742 MW, a 5% increase from the 1,654 MW recorded in the second quarter and a 37% increase from the 1,269 MW in the third quarter of 2025. Connections also increased: 58,459 between July and September, compared to 38,660 in the previous quarter, representing a 34% increase.

The breakdown by capacity highlights the growing weight of larger projects. From January to September, the residential segment, with systems up to 20 kW, added 897 MW through 135,254 connections, accounting for 19% of the new capacity. The commercial and industrial (C&I) segment, ranging from 20 kW to 1 MW, reached 1,697 MW with 11,905 installations, representing 35% of the total. Utility-scale plants, at 1 MW and above, contributed 2,241 MW with 473 connections, equivalent to 46%.

In the third quarter, utility-scale plants connected 858 MW: 394 MW in the 1 to 10 MW range and 464 MW above 10 MW. The C&I segment added 543 MW, and the residential segment added 341 MW. Compared to the third quarter of 2025, capacity increased from 457 to 858 MW for utility-scale plants, from 500 to 543 MW in C&I, and from 312 to 341 MW in residential. However, the association notes a contraction in the residential market in the first half of the year compared to 2025, a trend that requires monitoring, especially given the positive data from the third quarter.

The territorial distribution confirms differences in the size and composition of projects. Sicily leads in new capacity over the first nine months, with 686 MW, ahead of Lombardy with 644 MW, Piedmont with 498 MW, Veneto with 463 MW, Emilia-Romagna with 443 MW, and Lazio with 432 MW. It also ranks first in installed capacity per capita, at 12 W, followed by Lombardy (11 W) and Piedmont (8 W). Lombardy, however, leads in the number of new grid connections, with 22,999, followed by Veneto (18,099), Emilia-Romagna (13,405), and Sicily (11,653). In Sicily, 476 of the 686 MW installed relate to plants exceeding 10 MW; in Lombardy, the C&I segment contributed 405 MW, while the source reports a substantial absence of large-scale plants.

On the storage front, as of September 30, 984,829 systems were connected, with a total capacity of 19,983 MWh and a power output of 8,338 MW. This capacity includes 12,552 MWh associated with photovoltaic plants, 7,368 MWh for stand-alone systems, 57 MWh connected to thermal power plants, and 6 MWh to wind plants.

In the first nine months, 98,197 new systems were connected, with a total capacity of 1,953 MWh and a power output of 907 MW. Nearly all of the new units are associated with photovoltaics: 98,186 systems, with 1,486 MWh and 773 MW. The 11 standalone systems added 467 MWh and 134 MW. In the third quarter, energy storage systems paired with photovoltaics totaled 480 MWh, 252 MW, and 31,039 connections. Compared to the previous quarter, capacity decreased by 5%, power by 10%, and the number of systems by 6%; on a year-on-year basis, however, capacity increased by 15% from 417 MWh, while connections fell from 32,697.

The size of energy storage systems associated with photovoltaics is also changing: in the third quarter, those connected to plants of up to 6 kW reached 242 MWh, compared to 129 MWh in the second quarter. In the 6 to 20 kW range, capacity dropped from 229 to 105 MWh; above 20 kW, it decreased from 147 to 133 MWh. In the first nine months, the three ranges totaled 481, 596, and 409 MWh, respectively.

Lombardy also leads in new photovoltaic energy storage: 206 MWh and 14,672 connections in the first nine months. Following in capacity are Emilia-Romagna (155 MWh), Veneto (146) and Sicily (144); by number of systems, Veneto (10,338), Emilia-Romagna (9,197) and Sicily (7,643). In cumulative terms, Lombardy has 164,950 systems and 2,095 MWh, ahead of Veneto (1,562 MWh) and Emilia-Romagna (1,154 MWh).

The growth of renewables therefore requires both large-scale plants and distributed generation and self-consumption. However, for solar energy to be integrated into the power system, the development of storage and rules that recognize the value of flexibility remains an essential part of the process.