![November electricity sales on GME platforms [source: GME monthly report]](http://gastopower.co.uk/media/k2/items/cache/88cc9d1b5b2565b9ef4856fa522b0a33_S.jpg)
The share of electricity generated from gas-fired power plants sold on the Italian day-ahead regulated electricity market further increased in November, reaching 52.1% of total sales, up from 50.7% in October and against 42.6% in November 2015, exchange manager Gestore Mercati Energetici (GME) said in its monthly report.
Conversely, electricity generated from renewables and traded on the platform continued to see year on year reductions, being down to 28.5% - unchanged month on month - against 32.9% in November 2015.
Plummeting net imports (down 61.9%) “boosted sales from national generation units and from gas-fired thermoelectric plants in particular, which were at the highest since March 2012,” GME commented in the report.
In the same period, coal-fired generation decreased to 8.6% (11.7% the previous year), and other thermal (such as heating oil) sources' electricity share stood at 9.1% (11.7% the previous year). Pumped storage increased to 1.8% (1.1% in November 2015).
Gas consumption for power generation up 30.4% on year
Gas consumption for power generation totalled 2.38 billion cubic meters in November (up 30.4% year on year), the highest since July 2015, again on the back of the “slump in electricity imports on the back of maintenance at several nuclear power plants in France” GME said.
Industrial gas demand rose 9.9% to 1.3 Bcm in the same period, while demand for heating increased 5% to 3.5 Bcm amid colder temperatures compared to the previous year.
Gas imports were the highest since 2011 for November, standing at 5.7 Bcm, up 13.3% year on year, led by sharp rises in Algerian and Russian gas flows.
Algerian gas imports through the Mazara del Vallo entry point were up a staggering 172.9% year on year at above 1.8 Bcm in November, with Russian flows through Tarvisio standing at around 2.6 Bcm, an increase by 16.5% compared to November 2015.