Enel Grids, the Enel Group’s global business line dedicated to electricity distribution, set a new record in 2022 by connecting nearly 5.6 GW of additional distributed renewable energy capacity to its grids worldwide. This increase in capacity is equivalent to around 411,000 producers and prosumers, with approximately 317,000 of these located in Europe and the remainder in Latin America. Enel Grids’ cumulated grid-connected small and medium-scale renewable capacity has now surpassed 65 GW worldwide, originating from roughly 1.4 million energy producers.
Enel’s increased hosting capacity and the high level of digitalization of its distribution grids have contributed to these results. The company expects to see even more substantial growth in 2023 and beyond, as shown by the consistent growth in requests for connection received in the first weeks of the year.
Out of the new 5.6 GW added worldwide in 2022, approximately 2.4 GW were connected in Italy, of which almost 2 GW corresponded to solar PV. In Spain, Enel Grids connected 2.2 GW of capacity, with 97,000 new connections in 2022. The remaining additions were made mainly in Brazil, where 800 MW were connected to the grids.
These record numbers emphasize how the worldwide growth of renewable electricity generation is driven by both utility-scale wind and solar plants and customer-led initiatives at the local level, which are making significant contributions to reducing fossil fuel consumption and generating carbon-free electricity. BloombergNEF estimates that in Europe, the share of power injected in the distribution grids will rise to 66% by 2050, up from 27% in 2022.
Enel Grids’ efforts to facilitate the transition to renewable energy have led to an unprecedented and bottom-up energy transition. This is being driven by an increasing number of citizens using abundant clean natural resources to self-produce solar energy. Enel Grids aims to continue pursuing service improvements that will enable customers to achieve energy independence, while promoting a more interactive electricity ecosystem and new business model opportunities.
Press release by Enel from February 16, 2023:
Enel connected a record 5.6 GW of distributed renewable capacity to its grids in 2022