News today that Solon AG had won orders in Italy to build six solar power plants in the South East (probably just above the heel of the boot bit) with a a combined capacity of 52.4 MW got me thinking . . . is Italy, a comparatively wealthy, hot southern mediterranean country, Europe's sleeping solar giant?

There's a bit more detail on this story, but not much more, from Solon's website;

The additional points from their press release are;

". . . the agreement contains an option to construct a 100 MW plant between 2009 and 2011. Both tracked systems as well as fixed-tilt photovoltaic systems will be used in the projects. The Puglia region is one of the most attractive regions in Italy for building solar power plants due to its geographic location with around 1,400 hours of sunshine annually and the local legislation supporting the installation of photovoltaic systems."

It's instructive that for annual sunlight hours, this is almost exactly the same as London. That's why, respectfully, Solon's press release hasn't quite got it right. The killer fact here is the superior level of solar irradiation, measured here on this excellent EU map, entitled, Photovoltaic Solar  Electricity Potential in European Countries. Clearly, the Puglia region is a winner, when measured as in the map by annual kilowatt hours per square metre from a 1kw system (optimally-inclined and south-orientated).

The result shows an annual yield from a square metre of;

1200 kilowatt hours for London
And at least 2000 kilowatt hours for Puglia

In other words, the same system in Puglia, will produce two-thirds more power than in London (or for that matter, most of Germany!). So next time you hear about a new solar plant in Europe, if you want to know how much power it will produce, check out these two metrics;

i) Region specific annual sunlight hours
ii) Region specific solar irradiation levels

and go figure !