Energy in Italy comes mostly from fossil fuels. Among the most used resources are petroleum (mostly used for the transport sector), natural gas (used for electric energy production and heating), coal and renewables. Italy has few energy resources, and most supplies are imported.
An important share of its electricity is imported, mainly from Switzerland and France. The share of primary energy dedicated to electricity production is above 35%,data from Terna - Italian electric grid and has grown steadily since the 1970s.
Electricity is produced mainly from natural gas, which accounts for the source of more than half of the total final electric energy produced. Another important source is hydroelectric power, which was practically the only source of electricity until 1960. Wind and solar power grew rapidly between 2010 and 2013 thanks to high incentives. Italy is one of the world's largest producers of renewable energy.
Overview
Energy in Italy come mostly from fossil fuels. Among the most used resources are petroleum (mostly used for the transport sector), natural gas (used for electric energy production and heating), coal and renewables. Electricity is produced mainly from natural gas, which accounts for the source of more than half of the total final electric energy produced. Another important source is hydroelectric power, which was practically the only source of electricity until 1960. The first power plant in continental Europe was inaugurated in Milan in 1883.
Eni, with operations in 79 countries, is considered one of the seven "Supermajor" oil companies in the world, and one of the world's largest industrial companies. The Val d'Agri area, Basilicata, hosts the largest onshore hydrocarbon field in Europe. Moderate natural gas reserves, mainly in the Po Valley and offshore Adriatic Sea, have been discovered in recent years and constitute an important mineral resource.
In the last decade, Italy has become one of the world's largest producers of renewable energy, ranking as the second largest producer in the European Union and the ninth in the world. Wind power, hydroelectricity, and geothermal power are also important sources of electricity in the country. Italy was the first country in the world to exploit geothermal energy to produce electricity. The first Italian geothermal power plant was built in Tuscany, which is where all currently active geothermal plants in Italy are located. In 2014 the geothermal production was 5.92 TWh.
Solar energy production alone accounted for almost 9% of the total electric production in the country in 2014, making Italy the country with the highest contribution from solar energy in the world. The Montalto di Castro Photovoltaic Power Station, completed in 2010, is the largest photovoltaic power station in Italy with 85 MW. Other examples of large PV plants in Italy are San Bellino (70.6 MW), Cellino san Marco (42.7 MW) and Sant’ Alberto (34.6 MW).
Renewable sources account for the 27.5% of all electricity produced in Italy, with hydro alone reaching 12.6%, followed by solar at 5.7%, wind at 4.1%, bioenergy at 3.5%, and geothermal at 1.6%. The rest of the national demand is covered by fossil fuels (38.2% natural gas, 13% coal, 8.4% oil) and by imports.
Italy has managed four nuclear reactors until the 1980s, but in 1987, after the Chernobyl disaster, a large majority of Italians passed a referendum opting for phasing out nuclear power in Italy. The government responded by closing existing nuclear power plants and stopping work on projects underway, continuing to work to the nuclear energy program abroad instead. The national power company Enel operates seven nuclear reactors in Spain (through Endesa) and four in Slovakia (through Slovenské elektrárne), and in 2005 made an agreement with Électricité de France for a nuclear reactor in France. With these agreements, Italy has managed to access nuclear power and direct involvement in design, construction, and operation of the plants without placing reactors on Italian territory.
General statistics + Energy in Italy Population Primary energyconsumption Production Import Electricityconsumption CO2-emission Year Million PJ PJ PJ TWh Mt 1990 56.7 235 389 2000 56.9 302 420 2010 59.8 326 392 2011 60.1 327 384 2012 60.3 321 367 2013 60.6 311 338 2014 60.8 304 319 2015 60.7 310 330 2016 60.6 308 326 2017 60.5 315 322 2018 60.5 316 317 2019 60.3 314 309 Variation1990-2019 +6% +2% +36% -4% +34% -21%
International comparisons In the rankings published by the International Energy Agency, Italy appears among the top ten countries in the world for several of the indicators:
+ Italy's position in the world rankings Energy source Indicator Rank Year Quantity Unity % world Crude oilNet import 8th 2019 65 Mt 3.1% Natural gasNet import 4th 2020 66 Mds m3 6.8% ElectricityNet import 2nd 2019 38 TWh 11.4% Electricity production by sourcesNatural gas 10th 2019 142 TWh 2.2% Wind powerElectrical production 14th 2020 18.7 TWh 1.2%Power installed 10th 2019 10.7 GW 1.7% Photovoltaic solar energyElectrical production 6th 2019 24 TWh 3.5%Power installed 6th 2019 20.9 GW 3.5%% PV/elec. 1st 2019 8.1 % BiomassElectrical production 8th 2019 17.2 TWh 3.2%GeothermalElectrical production 6th 2019 6.07 TWh 6.7%
Energy resources Reserves Italy's fossil fuel reserves are modest, but its renewable energy potential is significant, especially for hydro and solar.
Proven and economically recoverable oil reserves are estimated at the end of 2017 at 78 Mt, and additional potential resources at 1,540 Mt; cumulative production up to 2017 reached 205 Mt: Italy has therefore already largely depleted its resources; at the rate of current production (4.1 Mt in 2017), the reserves would be exhausted in 19 years; Proven and economically recoverable gas reserves are estimated at the end of 2017 at 38 billion m3, and additional potential resources at 405 billion m3; cumulative production up to 2017 reached 766 billion m3: Italy has therefore also largely depleted its resources there; at the rate of current production (5.4 billion m3 in 2017), proven reserves would be exhausted in 7 years; For coal, Italy has only 10 Mt of reserves.
Italy benefits from significant hydroelectric potential, particularly in the Alps, but it is already almost fully exploited; During the first half of the 20th century, hydroelectricity covered almost all of the country's electricity needs.
The map of solar radiation in Italy reveals high potentials in southern Italy, particularly in Sicily and Sardinia.
National energy production In 2018, the country's energy production reached 43.42 Mtoe, up 10.9% compared to 2017, broken down into:
fossil fuels: 21.6%, of which: natural gas: 4.46 Mtoe (10.3%), covering 7.5% of domestic gas consumption; oil: 4.68 Mtoe (10.8%), 8% of oil consumption; coal: 0.25 Mtoe (0.6%), 2.7% of coal consumption; renewable energies: 34.02 Mtoe, i.e. 78.4%. All of these resources covered only 25.2% of the country's needs.
+ Primary energy production in Italy by source (PJ) Source 1990 % 2000 % 2010 % 2015 2020 % 2020 var.2020/1990 Coal 12 1.1 0,1 0.01 2,7 0.2 2,2 0 0 % -100 % Oil 187 17.6 196 16.7 235 17.0 242 241 16.4 % +29 % Natural gas 587 55.4 570 48.4 288 20.9 232 146 9.9 % -75 % Total fossil fuels 786 74.1 767 65.0 526 38.1 477 387 26.3 % -51 % Hydraulic 114 10.7 159 13.5 184 13.3 164 168 11.4 % +48 % Geoth., solar, wind 125 11.8 181 15.3 245 17.8 373 391 26.6 % +214 % Biomass-waste 36 3.4 73 6.2 426 30.9 498 526 35.7 % +1381 % Total renewable energy 274 25.9 413 35.0 856 61.9 73.7 % +296 % Total 100 100 100 100 % +39 %Source of data: International Energy Agency
Imported energy Italy depends on its imports for a very high share of its energy needs: in 2018, its energy imports reached 158.51 Mtoe against 163.46 Mtoe in 2017; after deducting 31.09 Mtoe of exports (mainly petroleum products), net imports represented 74.0% of the country's total energy consumption, while its national production only covered 25.2% of his needs.
Oil is the main imported energy: in 2018, net imports of oil and oil products reached 51.97 Mt, i.e. 88.7% of the country's domestic oil consumption. The 11 refineries in operation in 2018 have a refining capacity of 83.7 Mt/year, down 2.7% compared to 2017. The Venice biorefinery, the world's first refinery converted to vegetable sources in 2014, has a biodiesel production capacity of 360,000 tonnes /year from used cooking oils and palm oil; this capacity will be increased to 420,000 tonnes/year in 2021, to which will be added the Gela biorefinery (600,000 tonnes/year).
Natural gas is the second most imported energy: in 2018, net imports of natural gas reached 53.27 Mtoe, or 92.9% of the country's gas consumption.
Italy also imported 9.23 Mtoe of coal in 2018, mainly for power plants, coke and heat production plants.
Even electricity is largely imported: 9.66 Mtoe in 2018, or 13% of total gross electricity supply.
Infrastructure Refineries
The Priolo Gargallo complex, in Sicily, includes 2 refineries linked by pipelines: ISAB NORD and ISAB SUD, belonging to the Russian company Lukoil, with a total capacity of 16 Mt/year.
The Sarroch refinery in Sardinia (capacity: 15 Mt/year), i.e. more than 20% of the country's refining capacity, belongs to SARAS (Società Anonima Raffinerie Sarde).
In May 2018, the Algerian company Sonatrach bought from Esso (a 100% subsidiary of ExxonMobil) the Augusta refinery in Sicily (capacity: 9.5 Mt/year), three oil terminals located in Augusta, Naples and Palermo and their associated pipeline systems.
The refineries of Porto Marghera, in Veneto, and Gela, in Sicily, have been converted into bio-refineries using as raw materials vegetable oils, waste (frying oil, fats, urban waste), algae, etc. ( 230,000 tonnes/year since 2014 in Porto Marghera, 750,000 tonnes/year since 2019 in Gela).
Gas pipelines
Russian gas is transported to Italy via the Yamal–Europe pipeline, then the Trans Austria Gas Pipeline.
The Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline (or Enrico Mattei gas pipeline) transports gas from Algeria. Starting from Hassi R'Mel, it covers 550 km in Algerian territory, then 370 km in Tunisia, crosses the Mediterranean Sea by an underwater section of 155 km, then Sicily (340 km), the Strait of Messina, before going up the entire Italian peninsula, to join the gas network near Bologna.
The Greenstream pipeline, commissioned in 2004, the longest underwater gas pipeline in the Mediterranean Sea, connects western Libya to Sicily.
The Transitgas Pipeline, inaugurated in 2008, connects the gas market in northwestern Europe with Italy.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline project is a gas pipeline project transporting natural gas from the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan) to the European market. It leaves from the Greek-Turkish border and crosses Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea to arrive in Italy. Its construction was completed in October 2020 and its operation should begin in mid-November.
Energy consumption
From primary energy consumed to final energy consumed + Energy balance 2019 Resources PJ % Use PJ % Primary energy production 1,441 23.1 % Energy branch consumption and losses 1,248 20.0 % Imports 6,360 102.0 % Final non-energy consumption 293 4.7 % Exports -1,231 -19.7 % Final energy consumption 4,635 74.3 % Holds -277 -4.4 % Statistical discrepancies 61 1.0 % Inventory change -55 -0.9 % Total resources 6,237 100 % Total uses 6,237 100 % Energy branch consumption detail Breakdown of final energy consumption Translation losses 845 68 % Industry 1,048 22.6 % Own consumption 322 26 % Transportation 1,501 32.4 % Transmission/distribution losses 81 6 % Residential 1,300 28.0 % Tertiary 661 14.3 % Agriculture + fishing 123 2.7 %
Primary energy consumption