Energy in Italy

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;[24]
• proven and economically recoverable gas reserves are estimated at the end of 2017 at 38 Gm³, and additional potential resources at 405 Gm³; cumulative production up to 2017 reached 766 Gm³: Italy has therefore also largely depleted its resources there; at the rate of current production (5.4 bcm in 2017), proven reserves would be exhausted in 7 years;[24]
• for coal, Italy has only 10 Mt of reserves.[24]

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.

In 2018, the country's energy production reached 43.42 Mtoe, up 10.9% compared to 2017, broken down into:[25]

• 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.[25]

Geothermal power plant in Larderello, Tuscany

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.[25]

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.[25] 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).[26]

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.[25]

Italy also imported 9.23 Mtoe of coal in 2018, mainly for power plants, coke and heat production plants.[25]

Even electricity is largely imported: 9.66 Mtoe in 2018,[25] or 13% of total gross electricity supply.

Refinery in Sarroch, Sardinia

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.[27]

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).[28]

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.[29]

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).[30].

Trans Adriatic Pipeline

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.[31]

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.[32] Its construction was completed in October 2020 and its operation should begin in mid-November.[33]

The total of primary resources produced in Italy or imported in 2018 was 172.3 Mtoe. Primary energy consumption is massively dominated by fossil fuels: 73.9% (coal: 5.4%; oil: 34.5%; natural gas: 34.0%); renewable energies cover only 20.5% of needs, and the electricity import balance provides the remaining 5.6%.[25] Italian primary energy consumption per capita in 2019 was 103.4 GJ, 31% higher than the world average (79.1 GJ).[16]

Electrical renewable energies cover 34.5% of gross domestic electricity consumption;[34] thermal renewable energies provide 10.9 Mtoe, including 7.9 Mtoe from biomass and 2.6 Mtoe from heat pumps; biofuels provide 1.25 Mtoe (biodiesel).[35]

Hydroelectric power plant in Carona, Lombardy

Final energy consumption (after refining, transformation into electricity or district heating, transport, etc.) was 127.3 Mtoe in 2018, up 1.5% compared to 2017. It was divided into 73, 2% fossil fuels (1.7% coal, 41.8% oil, 29.7% natural gas), 7.0% thermal renewable energies and 19.8% electricity.[36] The production of electricity was split into 60.3% from fossil fuels and 39.7% from renewables; in total, final consumption was therefore 85% fossil fuel and 15% renewable.[37]

Final energy consumption changed as follows:

The share of renewable energies evolved as follows:

Wind power plant in San Giorgio La Molara, Campania

The breakdown of final energy consumption by use was as follows:[36]

• non-energy uses: 5.7 Mtep (4.5%; mainly chemicals);
• bunkers: 3.15 Mtoe (2.5%; aircraft consumption excluding domestic flights and international ferry lines);
• domestic energy use: 118.5 Mtoe (93.1%), of which:
  • industry: 27.2 Mtoe (21.4%);
  • transport: 40.1 Mtoe (31.5%);
  • residential-tertiary: 48.1 Mtoe (37.8%);
  • agriculture: 3.0 Mtoe (2.4%).

Note: the International Energy Agency does not take into account international bunkers, which are not domestic consumption.

The breakdown by sector of final energy consumption changed as follows: