Italy’s newly installed battery storage capacity fell 58% year on year over the past 12 months, with the decline accelerating in the second quarter. However, upcoming capacity auctions could still bring an additional 24 GWh of storage online by 2030.
Anie Rinnovabili’s latest Storage Systems Observatory, based on data from transmission system operator Terna’s Gaudì database, shows a 58% decline in installed storage capacity and a 42% fall in power over the 12 months to June 2026.
The downturn was even sharper in the second quarter. Between April and June, newly installed capacity fell 82% compared with the same period in 2025, while installed power dropped 68%.
Anie said the weakness was driven primarily by the residential segment, which had been the main driver of the Italian storage market in recent years. The residential market recorded its 11th consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline, with installed capacity falling 36% in the second quarter compared with the same period in 2025.
All Italian regions recorded negative year-on-year changes in both installed capacity and power in the first half of 2026.
Italy added 1.3 GWh of storage capacity between January and June, including 0.9 GWh of distributed systems paired with PV and 0.4 GWh of standalone, centralized systems. Excluding existing pumped hydro, the country had approximately 19 GWh of installed storage capacity and 8 GW of power as of June 30.
Anie said the current pace of deployment is insufficient to meet the requirements identified in Italy’s national energy planning. Compared with the targets in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC), the country has a gap of approximately 2 GWh for distributed storage and 50 GWh for centralized storage.
The first Macse auction is expected to provide a significant boost, with Terna having already awarded 10 GWh of new storage capacity for completion by 2027. Further competitive procedures under the Macse and Capacity Market mechanisms are scheduled in 2026 for another 16 GWh, with projects due to enter operation by 2029.
The next Macse auction is scheduled for Nov. 24, while a date has not yet been set for the Capacity Market procedure.
If all awarded and planned volumes are delivered, around 24 GWh of additional storage would still need to be developed by 2030, Anie said.
Several factors could affect that outlook, including the residential tax deduction, whose 50% rate was still under review at the time of the report, and a possible extension of the Cacer decree. In the commercial and industrial segment, Anie said the impact of Italy’s enhanced depreciation scheme remains to be assessed. For utility-scale storage, uncertainties remain around the timing and allocation of volumes in future auctions.
The forthcoming Terna-Snam Scenario Description Document, expected by the end of September, could also alter projected storage requirements through 2030.
Raffaello Teani, president of Anie’s Storage Systems Group, said data from Italian energy regulator Arera showed that around 0.8 TWh of renewable generation had to be curtailed in 2025.
Teani called for the second Macse auction to include limits on the volume that can be awarded to a single operator to reduce the risk of technological lock-in, as well as limits on project size given the strategic importance of storage assets to Italy’s electricity system. He also called for stronger residential tax incentives and said the impact of enhanced depreciation in the commercial and industrial segment would need to be assessed.
Anie data
Anie’s Storage Systems Observatory counted 941,911 storage systems in Italy at the end of the second quarter, with 7,961 MW of total power and 19.3 GWh of capacity.
The main market segments were:
- Residential (C ≤ 20 kWh): approximately 9.5 GWh, or almost half of total installed capacity
- Commercial and industrial (20 kWh < C ≤ 1,000 kWh): more than 2.2 GWh
- Utility-scale (1,000 kWh < C ≤ 10,000 kWh): approximately 0.2 GWh
- Large utility-scale (C > 10,000 kWh): approximately 7.4 GWh
Lithium-ion batteries accounted for 99.7% of storage systems by number, 98.9% of installed power and 96.9% of installed capacity in the first half of 2026.
The residential segment remained the largest part of Italy’s installed storage fleet, with almost all systems below 20 kWh and primarily paired with PV. A total of 60,030 storage systems were installed during the first half of 2026, adding 593 MW of power and 1,349 MWh of capacity.
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