According to data provided by Terna, the company that manages the national electricity grid in February 2018, electricity demand in Italy was 26,3 billion kWh, an increase of 4,2% compared to the volumes of the same month of 2017.
The temperature effect mainly weighed on the performance of demand: this year, in fact, February - with the same calendar (20 working days) - recorded an average monthly temperature almost three degrees Celsius lower than in February 2017 .
Demand for the first two months of 2018 grew by 0,5% compared to the corresponding period of 2017. With the same calendar, the value is +0,2%. At the territorial level, the trend change in February 2018 was positive everywhere: +3,9% in both the North and the Center and +5% in the South.
In economic terms, the seasonally adjusted value of electricity demand in February 2018 recorded a positive change compared to the previous month (+2,9%). The trend profile moves to an increasing trend.
In February 2018, 83,3% of the demand for electricity was met with domestic production and the remainder (16,7%) with the balance of electricity exchanged with foreign countries. In detail, net national production (22,1 billion kWh) decreased by 0,8% compared to February 2017.
The sources of production are increasing water (+15,9%) ed wind (+11,2%); geothermal (-1,8%), thermal (-3,3%) and photovoltaic (-11,8%) sources were down. The maximum power required in February 2018 was 54.697 MW, recorded on Wednesday 28 at 11 and is 6,5% higher than the value recorded at the peak in February 2017. The figure is mainly related to the intense cold wave recorded in the last days of the month.
