According to Terna, in April renewables sources covered 47% of the monthly electricity demand, and photovoltaic power production grew by 26.9%. The data collected by Terna show that electricity demand in Italy stood at 19.9 billion kWh, a decrease of 17.2% compared to April 2019. This was also due to one more working day (21 vs 20), and an average monthly temperature essentially in line.
As Terna pointed out in a statement, the measures adopted to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic emergency influenced the decrease in consumption. Indeed, the figure represents a -18.2% variation if adjusted for seasonal, temperature and calendar effects. Compared to the same period in 2019, the demand in the first four months of 2020 decreased by 7.4%: in adjusted terms, the change was equal to -8.4%. The April 2020 trend variation was negative everywhere in Italy: -20.3% in the North, -16% in Central Italy and -11.2% in the South.
As Terna explained, in April 2020, 95.9% of the electricity demand was met with national production, and the remaining 4.1% was met with the balance of energy exchanged with foreign countries. Production from renewable sources covered 47% of the demand, an increase of 36% compared to the same period in 2019. Specifically, net national production (19.4 billion kWh) decreased by 10.8% compared to April 2019. Geothermal (+1.1%), hydroelectric (+10.4%) and photovoltaic production (+26.9%) increased, while wind (-14.3%) and thermoelectric production (-21.4%) decreased.