Energy, historical record of imports for Italy at the beginning of 2024
From January to Marchthe energy purchased from abroad covered 22 percent of national needs. Repubblica writes this today, analyzing the data communicated by Terna, underlining that it is “an unprecedented record: Italy had never imported so much electricity as happened in the first three months of 2024”.
As Repubblica explains, “this happened despite the fact that the share of energy satisfied by renewables was much higher than in the same period a year ago: in the month of March alone, they covered the demand for 41.8 percent of the total, while twelve months ago they stopped at 33 percent of the total”. The fact that “electricity on wholesale markets in neighboring countries costs less.”
In particular from France, which “thanks to its 19 nuclear power plants it always has a surplus of electricity at lower prices”, writes Repubblica. And while renewables and hydroelectricity are growing in Italy, the bill is not going down. Also in this case, the reason is explained by Repubblica: “We are among the countries where the average price of electricity is even higher (we are in sixth place in the EU according to Eurostat data). Furthermore, supply contracts are often a pre-established price and the consequences – positive or negative of market conditions – are up to the operators”.