According to the latest data released by the Italian Solar Industry Association (Italia Solare) and grid operator Terna, Italy’s newly installed photovoltaic capacity for the full year of 2025 reached 6.437 GW, a 5% decrease compared to the 6.8 GW in 2024, largely due to a slowdown in the distributed photovoltaic market. Despite the weak performance in the residential and commercial & industrial (C&I) segments, the utility-scale solar market saw a 15% annual increase, partially offsetting the overall decline.
Terna’s analysis indicates that the decline in installations in 2025 was primarily driven by contraction in the residential and C&I sectors.
In the residential segment (systems smaller than 20 kW), the market entered an adjustment period following the cancellation of the “Superbonus” subsidy scheme. The number of residential photovoltaic installations dropped from 274,537 in 2024 to 198,667 in 2025, a decline of 24%. Currently, this segment appears to have stabilized at an average of 300 MW per quarter. The C&I segment (20 kW to 1 MW) also faced challenges, with annual newly installed capacity falling by 21% to 1.744 GW. The contraction in this market was particularly evident in the first nine months of 2025, with some recovery in the fourth quarter. Italia Solare noted that this decline may be linked to various bidding announcements, leading businesses to postpone construction until funding certainty was obtained.
In contrast to the sluggish performance of the distributed market, the utility-scale solar segment (larger than 1 MW) achieved counter-trend growth in 2025, with newly installed capacity reaching 3.412 GW, a 15% increase from 2.91 GW in 2024. The association attributes this growth to the large number of permits approved in recent years. Projects with capacities exceeding 10 MW alone contributed 1.03 GW in the fourth quarter, surpassing the total of 688 MW from the first three quarters. Of the total 6.4 GW of capacity installed in 2025, nearly 2.4 GW came from utility-scale projects connected in the fourth quarter.
As of the end of 2025, Italy’s cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity reached 43.5 GW. This includes 11.6 GW (27%) from residential installations, 18.85 GW (43%) from C&I installations, and 13.04 GW (30%) from utility-scale projects. Looking ahead to 2026, with the announcement of the FER-X auction results in December 2025, the association anticipates more large-scale photovoltaic systems to be gradually connected to the grid.
