Energy, consumption down by 5% in the first half. The decline in industry weighs (-10%)
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Despite the sharp drop in prices, the decrease in energy consumption continued in the first half of 2023, dropping by 5%, after the sharp contraction in the fourth quarter of 2022 (-12%). This is what emerges from the quarterly update of the Enea analysis of the Italian energy system, which also highlights a new significant reduction in CO2 emissions (-9%), which had already decreased between October and December 2022 after six consecutive quarterly increases.
Decline in production
“The decline in consumption primarily concerns the civil sector (-12%), mainly due to the lower use of gas for heating, as a consequence of the administrative and efficiency measures adopted, but above all due to the exceptionally mild climate of the first months of the year, in January in particular”, explains Francesco Gracceva, who takes care of the Enea analysis. «Industry also recorded a reduction in consumption (-10%), determined in particular by the drop of up to 20% in production in the sectors gas intensive (basic chemicals, paper, non-metallic minerals and steel, ed), whose energy consumption is now more than 5% lower than in 2020. Transport consumption, on the other hand, is growing (+3%), with an increase concentrated almost entirely in the first quarter of 2023 and a progressive return to pre-pandemic levels”.
Renewables up 5%
In terms of energy sources, the reduction in gas (-16%) and coal (-15%) consumption was offset by a marked increase in electricity imports (+22%). Electricity renewables are growing (+5%), with an overall share of renewable sources in final consumption that is expected to exceed the all-time high of 2020 (20.4%) at the end of 2023.
«Even if the trajectory towards the new target of 40% by 2030 would require much more marked growth», comments Gracceva. According to Enea estimates, non-programmable electric renewables (wind and solar) recorded a new all-time high in the 13-15 time slot on 10 April (Easter Monday), covering more than 80% of demand.
In the first quarter, the decrease in energy consumption in Italy was in line with that of the Eurozone, again due to the mild climate and the phase of weakness of the economies. Even in Europe, in fact, the GDP decreased above all due to the drop in manufacturing activity, particularly marked in the sectors gas intensive.
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