Terna: decisive recovery of industrial consumption in April

Monthly demand at 24.3 billion kWh: +0.4% compared to 2019 and +21,7% compared to 2020

TERNA: DECISIVE RECOVERY OF

INDUSTRIAL CONSUMPTION IN APRIL

The IMCEI index up by 6% compared to 2019 and by 60% compared to 2020: steel, chemical,

mechanical, construction materials and non-ferrous metal sectors all positive

Renewables covered 37% of demand

Rome, 21 May 2021 - The recovery of electricity and industrial consumption continues: in April, Terna, the company which manages the national transmission grid, saw 24.3 billion kWh of electricity demand in Italy, a notable increase (+21.7%) with respect to April 2020, heavily influenced by the decrease in requirements associated with the initiatives implemented to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, while also showing growth (+0.4%) with respect to April 2019. Renewable sources covered 37% of consumption. At the industrial level, the IMCEI index monitored by Terna showed overall positive performance both in terms of trends and comparative figures, driven by steel, chemicals, mechanical, construction materials and non-ferrous metals.

Terna's IMCEI index - which directly examines and monitors the industrial consumption of about 530 large energy consumers connected to the Italian national transmission grid (large industries in the following sectors: cement, lime and gypsum, steel, chemical, engineering, transportation, food, paper, ceramics and glass and non-ferrous metals) - confirms the substantial return of industrial consumption to pre-Covid levels: the index is in fact up 60% compared to April 2020 and up 6% compared to April 2019. There was also an increase of +1% compared to the previous month (March). The steel, chemicals, mechanical, construction materials and non-ferrous metal sectors saw growth. On the other hand, the paper, food and transportation sectors saw a decrease.

Again for this month, due to the anomalous values recorded from March 2020 onwards, Terna deemed it appropriate to conduct an additional statistical analysis using 2019 as a benchmark. During the first four months of 2021, electricity demand in Italy grew by 6.2% with respect to the same period the previous year (+7.2% adjusted), while it fell by 1.5% with respect to 2019 (-1.4% adjusted).

Analysing the April data in detail, this year the month had the same number of working days (21) and an average monthly temperature 1.5°C lower than April 2020. When adjusted for seasonal, temperature and calendar effects, the figure represents a +20.3% variation. When looking regionally, the April trend was positive across the country: +25.8% in the North, +20.2% in Central Italy and +14.6% in the South. In comparative terms, the data, adjusted for seasonal, calendar and temperature effects, was substantially in line with the previous month (March).

In April, electricity demand was met for approximately 88% through domestic production and the remainder (12%) through the balance of electricity exchanged with foreign countries. More in detail, net domestic production (21.7 billion kWh) increased by 11.5% compared to April 2020. Increases were seen in hydroelectric (+23.6%) and wind power (+25.6%) sources. There was decrease in wind (-12.5%), photovoltaic (-11%) and geothermal (-3.8%) sources. Relative to the import/export balance, the change amounted to +253.6% due to the combined effect of an increase in imports (+77.3%) and a decrease in exports (-68.5%).

A detailed analysis of provisional 2021 monthly electricity demand is available in the publication "Monthly Report on the Electricity System", under the section "Electric System >> Dispatching >> Operating Data" at www.terna.it.

Real-time data on the operation of the national electricity system can also be found on the Terna app, available on all app stores:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.terna.energia&hl=it

https://apps.apple.com/it/app/terna/id1458535498