Italy’s most important solar fair has doubled in size this year, with a large number of visitors. Italian solar analysts say the event’s success reflects strong growth in the country’s solar market.
About 600 companies participated in the fair held in Rimini last week, of which 28% were from other countries, according to the organizer Italian Exhibition Group (IEG). With 12 pavilions, the fair has doubled in size and visitor numbers, IEG said, without giving exact figures. However, a comparison with previous years is not possible because the event was still part of the Ecomondo exhibition.
“It seems like we’re back to the days of the old Solarexpo,” JinkoSolar CEO Alberto Cuter said. pv magazinereferring to a successful solar event held in Italy during the early stages of the country’s solar industry.
Andrea Brumgnach, vice president of the Italia Solare PV association, says the event’s success reflects the country’s strong growth in terms of volumes and contracts between last year and the first months of 2023.
“We see an atmosphere of recovery in the solar energy sector in this event,” he said. “It now has unprecedented national and international significance, and we waited years for this to happen.”
Brumgnach said Italy could install between 3 and 4 GW of new solar capacity in 2023 after reaching a remarkable 2.48 GW last year.
“A lot depends on the new technical rules that need to be published in the next few months,” he added. “However, it is important that we are able to install 7-8 GW per year if we want to achieve the goals of Italy’s energy strategy by 2030.”
Alberto Pinori – chairman of the Italian renewable energy association ANIE Rinnovabili – was also pleased with K.EY Energy’s result.
“The event is finally gaining prestige and filling a gap,” he noted. “We see the whole supply chain here. There are installers, developers and manufacturers, and we also saw a lot of interesting conferences.
He said the fair reflects the current growth of the Italian renewable energy market.
“The large-scale solar segment is growing in importance now compared to previous years,” he said, noting that all industry players are now joining forces more often to urge the government to simplify and streamline permitting processes.
The exhibition attracted most of the largest Chinese solar module manufacturers, as well as the largest inverter manufacturers in Europe and Asia. The presence of several Italian module manufacturers – including Sunergi, Trienergia and FuturaSun – also showed that the demand for European-made solar products could soon rise to new heights thanks to the REPower EU initiative.
All in all, the K.EY Energy fair has increased optimism in the Italian solar industry.
“We now have good reasons to be optimistic, but we should avoid complacency and remain vigilant for any future legislative developments,” Brumgnach said.
