POWER
Italian hydropower reserves last week – calendar week 50 – decreased by 0.06TWh to 3.01TWh, falling below the five-year average for the first time in 12 weeks.
- Stocks stood 0.03TWh below the five-year average last week after being in line with the average the week before.
- Reserves remained 0.42TWh below the 2023 levels last week.
- Power demand in Italy last week rose to 36.69GW, up from 36.38GW the week before.
- Gas-fired power generation in Italy last week increased by 1.75GW to 18.18GW – the highest weekly level so far this year.
- Italian hydropower output from pumped storage edged up by 119MW last week to 383MW. Generation from reservoirs also edged up by 135MW to 489MW, while run-of-river generation was broadly stable at 2.76GW.
- Wind output in Italy declined by 745MW to 2.42GW last week. Solar PV output was broadly stable at 1.37GW.
- There was no precipitation in Torino near Italy’s hydro-intensive region last week, limiting inflows into reserves.
- Looking ahead, the latest ECMWF weather forecasts for Torino suggested precipitation to total 22.6mm, above the seasonal average of 5.5mm.
- Italy’s hydro balance is forecast to end this week at -2.78TWh. The balance is further expected to near to end at -3.09TWh on 2 January.
Wind generation in Italy for the remainder of this week is forecast between 2.12GW and 4.13GW during base load, with output picking further up next week, reaching load factors of up to 68% according to SpotRenewables.
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