{"id":448520,"date":"2023-06-07T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=448520"},"modified":"2023-06-07T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T04:30:00","slug":"italy-and-spain-have-things-in-common-not-the-way-they-produce-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/italy-and-spain-have-things-in-common-not-the-way-they-produce-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy and Spain have things in common &#8211; but not the way they produce energy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Despite having similar geographical positioning,&nbsp; Italy and Spain are very different in how they produce power. In our <a href=\"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/en\/energy-index-europe\/\">European Energy Index<\/a>, Spain often scores better than Italy, and there are several reasons behind this gap. Italy\u2019s massive dependence on fossil fuels and Spain\u2019s surging renewables and nuclear energy can explain the differences, but they only tell a part of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/13991905\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"io-block io-block__summary\"><ul><li>Italy heavily relies on fossil fuels, while Spain relies on nuclear &#8211; although it will soon phase it out; <\/li><li>Wind power is surging in Spain; <\/li><li>Both countries are increasing their solar installations &#8211; in different ways; <\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Nuclear power <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Nuclear is undoubtedly one of the primary differences between the two countries. Spain has it, but Italy doesn\u2019t. According to Eurostat <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/eurostat\/databrowser\/view\/NRG_IND_PEH\/default\/table?lang=en\">data<\/a>, it accounted for a fifth of the gross electricity produced in the Iberic country in 2021. Yet, the seven operating reactors are scheduled to close by the end of 2030, as renewable power is expected to replace fossil and nuclear. Madrid pledged to install three GW of solar and wind power annually by the decade&#8217;s end. As of now, Spain\u2019s total nuclear plant capacity is four GW.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following Chornobyl\u2019s nuclear accident, Italians voted to stop nuclear power in 1987. Since then, the four reactors have been decommissioned. In the past few years \u2013 driven by the new technological developments and the conflict in Ukraine \u2013 the idea of reopening or building new plants came back into vogue. A few weeks ago, the Parliament <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/economy\/article\/2023\/05\/11\/italy-takes-another-step-toward-new-nuclear-plants_6026291_19.html\">approved<\/a> a motion to assess the opportunity to include nuclear power in the energy mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/13992313\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Italy bets on LNG <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether and how Italy will bet on nuclear power remains to be seen. Undoubtedly, fossil fuels represent the primary power source of the country. Since the Ukraine war started, the government has pushed to diversify its gas imports, strengthening its ties with Algeria and Azerbaijan. In addition, it started bolstering its regasifying capabilities as liquified natural gas (LNG) imports from Qatar and Africa surged in the past months, aiming at being utterly independent of Russian gas by 2024. A new regasifying ship started operating off the coast of Tuscany in the past month, and another one will kick off operations next year.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/13992529\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Renewables&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Eurostat figures show that roughly a fifth of the power used in the two countries in 2021 came from renewable energy sources \u2013 19.03 percent in Italy and 20.73 percent in Spain, to be precise. On May 23, sun, wind, and water alone covered alone the whole of mainland Spain\u2019s electricity demand for nine hours, a record that it\u2019s expected to be broken in the upcoming months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two&nbsp; Mediterranean countries set targets for 2030 in their National Energy and Climate <a href=\"https:\/\/energy.ec.europa.eu\/topics\/energy-strategy\/national-energy-and-climate-plans_en\">Plans<\/a>. Spain wants 42 percent of its final energy consumption from green power, while Italy aims at 30 percent. Both nations, like the whole EU, aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data shows the steep rise of solar installations in Spain in the last decade, while the same can\u2019t be said about Italy. Yet, 2022 figures show a boom in installations, with over 2.4 GW of new capacity connected, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gse.it\/documenti_site\/Documenti%20GSE\/Rapporti%20statistici\/GSE%20-%20Nota%20trimestrale%20FTV%20-%20quarto%20trimestre%202022.pdf\">report<\/a>&nbsp;by GSE \u2013 the state\u2019s energy services manager&nbsp;\u2013 underlines. The main limit many stakeholders lament is the lengthy approval times involved before the opening of solar and wind plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"flourish-embed flourish-chart\" data-src=\"visualisation\/13991341\"><script src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/resources\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wind&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As of 2021, Spain could count on over 27 GW of installed wind power capacity. In the same year, wind power was the primary source of electricity, as it covered over a fifth of the whole demand. Across the country, wind farm installations are increasing and will continue to. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavanguardia.com\/natural\/20220215\/8057309\/proyectos-parques-eolicos-superan-planes-gobierno.html\">article<\/a> by the newspaper La Vanguardia noted how the requests for wind park installations doubled the installed capacity planned by the government for 2030.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things look different in Italy. As reported by Wind Energy Europe, Italy installed 500 MW of wind turbines in 2022, including its first offshore plant off the coast of Taranto, Puglia. Again, bureaucratic procedures and needing more legislation are hampering the development of solar parks in the country. Last year the government opened calls for over five GWs of capacity. Only 213 MW of them were assigned.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-basic wp-block-visual-link-preview-link advgb-dyn-12b85a6b\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/the-energy-revolution-the-cheapest-electricity-now-comes-from-wind-and-solar\/\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"The energy revolution: The cheapest electricity now comes from wind and solar\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-image\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-title\">The energy revolution: The cheapest electricity now comes from wind and solar<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-summary\">With the huge economies of scale for wind power production, price declines for solar panels, and rising fossil fuel costs, wind and solar have become the cheapest energy sources by 2022. <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Different solar deployment&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Another comparison can be drawn from the solar photovoltaic production capacity figures. In Spain, two-thirds of the capacity installed belongs to what Eurostat defines as main activity producers \u2013 mainly energy companies.&nbsp; Conversely,&nbsp; the exact capacity share in Italy is owned by auto producers. Rather than in extensive parks, Italy has installed more solar panels in buildings driven by the tax discounts offered in the past years \u2013 the residential and the industrial sector having the largest shares of installation. The same GSE report found that only a third of the Italian solar plants are installed on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2022 figures show how auto consumption is also gaining traction in Spain. The Spanish Photovoltaic Union (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unef.es\/es\/\">UNEF<\/a>) informed that over 2500 MW of solar installations for auto consumption were installed in 2022, growing by 108 percent compared to the preceding year. The industrial and residential sectors had the highest number of installations.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-basic wp-block-visual-link-preview-link advgb-dyn-bb5f3a67\"><a href=\"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/en\/energy-index-europe\/\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"European Energy Index\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/app\/uploads\/2023\/03\/brewbart_a_european_energy_index_4k_2aba610b-06fb-4a7f-91e4-49f3a2c076e3.png\" style=\"max-width: 150px; max-height: 150px\" \/><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-title\">European Energy Index<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-summary\">Introducing the European Energy Index \u2013 an innovative and groundbreaking tool providing real-time energy production updates across Europe.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Citizens to drive the transition&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In both countries, sunshine is abundant, and so will solar power generation in the coming years. However, recurring droughts also threaten agriculture and hydropower generation, representing a relevant chunk of both countries\u2019 energy mix. As Spain plans to phase out coal and nuclear, Italy might (re)open new reactors. Wind will likely be the primary source of electricity in Spain.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, more and more renewable energy communities are being formed in Italy. Impulsed by the European Commission, they are associations of citizens, companies, or entities that produce and share renewable energy. In 2022, 100 of them existed in Italy. Spain isn\u2019t lagging, though, with initiatives such as Zaragoza\u2019s \u201cBarrio Solar\u201d \u2013 the solar neighborhood \u2013 also having a role in the green transition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite having similar geographical positioning,&nbsp; Italy and Spain are very different in how they produce power. In our European Energy Index, Spain often scores better than Italy, and there are several reasons behind this gap. Italy\u2019s massive dependence on fossil fuels and Spain\u2019s surging renewables and nuclear energy can explain the differences, but they only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":493970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[69760,78614,76916],"location":[47626,39958],"article_type":[],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-448520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-nl","tag-energie-2","tag-energy-generation","tag-european-energy-index","location-italy","location-spain"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"Although similar in many ways, the two largest Mediterranean countries power themselves differently. ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Mauro Mereu","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/luca-bravo-YoelVcKWmws-unsplash.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Sustainability<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Sustainability<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">energie<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">energy generation<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">European Energy Index<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">energie<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">energy generation<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">European Energy Index<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on June 7, 2023","modified":"Updated on June 7, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on June 7, 2023 6:30 am","modified":"Updated on June 7, 2023 6:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448520"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=448520"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=448520"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=448520"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=448520"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=448520"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=448520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}