Italian power demand declines further

Italian power demand has fallen further this week following restrictions on business activities imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. But while power consumption declined in in the northern zones, demand in other areas was higher on the week.

Demand in Italy stood at an hourly average of 26.3GW between Monday and Thursday, data from European transmission system operators (TSOs) association Entso-E show. This was about 2.4GW lower than the same period last week and down by 9.5GW compared with 2-5 March, the last week before the government started to lock down regions to contain the spread of the virus.

Italy introduced the first measures from 23 February, but they were limited to some municipalities in Lombardy and Veneto.

The country extended restrictions to the hardest-hit regions from 9 March and further extended them to the entire country from 12 March. The government closed all retail activities considered non-essential and people have been asked to stay home other than for work and emergency health reasons. Industries could continue operations if they were able to guarantee safe conditions, although some companies decided to stop or slow down their productions.

But a new decree came into force this week imposing, among the other things, the closure of all non-essential business activities, although some exceptions can apply. And industries with a continuous production process are exempted if halting production could result in severe damage to the plant or the risk of accidents.

The new measures have taken the number of workers kept at home to about 7.8mn, up by about 5mn compared with the previous decree, data from sector foundation Consulenti del Lavoro show.

Power demand declined following the decrease in the northern parts of the country, where much of Italy's industrial activities are located. About 56pc of workers stopped by the decree come from the north, with 20.6pc in Lombardy alone, Consulenti del Lavoro said.

Power consumption in the north zone fell to an hourly average of 13.7GW, down by 2.6GW week on week. The central-north zone also slightly declined, by 0.1GW to 2.9GW.

But southern regions showed a different trend, with demand in the central-south zone rising by 0.2GW compared with a week earlier to an hourly average of 4.4GW. Demand in the south zone remained flat, at an hourly average of 2.5GW, while in Sicily it rose to 1.9GW, compared with 1.8GW over 16-19 March. Demand in Sardinia fell to an hourly average of 838MW, compared with an average of 906MW a week earlier, Entso-E data show.

The decreased power consumption also weighed on the national single price (Pun), which in the second half of this month, has averaged €28.02/MWh, down from the €35.95/MWh recorded from 1-15 March, data from energy market operator GME show. The day-ahead settlement has fallen further this week, averaging €25.89/MWh and closing at €16.97/MWh on Monday. This was the lowest value since at least 1 September 2015, GME data show.

Next week, demand is scheduled at 18.5GW-32.5GW, according to Entso-E.

By Fabio Roccon

Italy and north-zone power demand GW

Other zones' power demand GW