Italy has begun to push renewable energy sources as a way to increase its generating capacity, reduce its reliance on Oil-fired plants, and decrease its Carbon dioxide emissions. Enel announced in 2005 that it would build 71 wind turbines throughout the country, each generating 1.5 MW of electricity. Endesa is also considering the construction of a wind farm on the island of Sardinia. According to Enel, Italy is the fifth-largest producer of wind energy in the world, though the country does not have the same natural advantage for wind power as northern European countries such as Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. Italy does have one of the largest potentials for solar energy in Europe. Under a government program implemented in late 2005, surplus solar energy generated by residential and commercial installations can be sold back to the grid for three-times the average rate of regular electric power.
Italys most promising source of renewable electricity generation could be geothermal. The first-ever geothermal power generation took place in Larderello, Tuscany at the beginning of the 20th century. According to the International Geothermal Association (IGA), Italy has the fourth-largest installed geothermal capacity in the world (795 MW), and country has some 94 percent of the total geothermal electricity capacity in the EU. Analysts estimate that Italy could have the largest, per-capita geothermal potential in the world.