According to GSE data about 2,500 PV installations with a total capacity of 22 MW were opened over about two years after the first incentive scheme was introduced in 2005.
Italy received from new incentives approval from government for PV in 2007. The incentives lured investors ranging from families to sports car maker Ferrari.
If the requests for incentives (which follow the installation of modules) continued at the current pace, the number of installations operating in Italy could exceed 70,000 by the end of 2009 with a total capacity of 900 MW, GSE said.
Italian PV industry group GIFI estimated the total installed PV capacity in Italy would increase to 600-650 MW by the end of 2009.
Italy’s total PV installed capability was around 440 MW at the end of 2008, according to GSE data.
As of April 1, 2009 Italy’s southern area of Puglia had the highest installed capacity, of 56.5 MW, while the northern area of Lombardy had 5,372 installations, GSE data showed.
