Italy Wants to Double Solar Capacity (to 900 MW) in 2009

[jpak]

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/17931

Italy expects to double its installed photovoltaic (PV) solar capacity to 900 megawatts (MW) in 2009, the country's GSE agency annouced today, according to a Reuters report.

In 2008, solar developers installed 338 MW of photovoltaic capacity in the country--roughly equivalent to installation capacity in the U.S., but less than what was installed in Germany and Spain.

The Italian government approved new incentive levels for solar that went into effect in mid-2007. According to GSE figures, those incentives have led to 34,000 new PV project with a combined capacity of 435 MW.

"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

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[Merlot]

1. Italy is about the size of Calfornia and it's photovoltaic capacity equals US.

That either says somethign good about Italy or bad about the US.