Enel: new record in 2023 of producer and prosumer connections photovoltaic to its grids for the energy transition

Enel Grids, the Enel Group’s global business line dedicated to electricity distribution, reached a record of nearly 540,000 new producer-prosumer connections to its grids in 2023, a 56% increase over the previous record set in 2022[1]. These connections, of which about 90% are located in Europe, added 7.9 GW of renewable capacity to the distribution system in the regions in which Enel operates. Italy is still the most dynamic of Enel’s markets, and throughout 2023 nearly 1,000 new distributed generation connections were added per day (approximately 360,000 new connections), reaching a total of around 1.5 million producer and prosumer connections at the end of last year.[p”Today in Enel we see an average of 45,000 new producer and prosumer connections to the distribution networks we manage worldwide, every month,” stated Gianni Vittorio Armani, Head of Enel Grids and Innovability. “These record-breaking numbers underscore how the growth of renewable generation worldwide is being driven not only by production at utility-scale level, but also by customer-driven initiatives at the local level that contribute significantly to reducing fossil fuel consumption and generating carbon-free electricity. Many prosumers also install batteries to make their consumption more flexible as well as modulate their energy supply and demand. Prosumers, as key players towards a new paradigm of distributed generation, are also choosing electrification for cooking and heating as well as for charging electric vehicles. Overall, this culture of energy independence is causing a major shift in the role of electricity distribution networks, which are becoming true enablers of electrification and of the energy transition.”[/p]

The overall small- and medium-scale renewable capacity connected to Enel networks worldwide currently stands at over 68 GW, stemming from about 2 million producer-prosumer connections. These results were achieved through the ever-increasing hosting capacity and high level of digitalization of distribution networks.

Out of the 7.9 GW connected by Enel in 2023, Italy accounted for 4.7 GW. The capacity added in this country last year was concentrated in the northern regions with 2.6 GW, with another 1.1 GW connected in the central regions. The southern regions and islands also contributed significantly with 1 GW of new capacity. Overall, Enel has connected to date around 39 GW to its distribution networks in Italy.

In Spain, Enel Grids connected 2.6 GW of capacity last year, about a third of the capacity added globally, thanks to approximately 125,000 new connections in 2023, for a cumulative total of about 258,000 producer- prosumer connections, corresponding to a total capacity of around 27 GW. Among the Spanish regions served by Enel Grids, 2023 connections in Andalusia and Catalonia account for a total of 1.9 GW, with the remainder of the added capacity divided between Aragon as well as the Balearic and Canary Islands.

The remaining connections carried out by Enel Grids worldwide were made in South America.

[1] On a like-for-like perimeter.