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About Italy's national settings for energy communities

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This presentation focuses on Italy's national settings, affecting the emergence and functioning of energy communities. It briefly looks at its socio-economic conditions, energy retaled technical systems, such as its consumption and production, heating and electricity systems and other important factors, institutional settings, such as political goals and tax schemes, and Italian actors, relevant for energy communities. The information is taken from the NEWCOMERS deliverable, titled Description of polycentric settings in the partner countries.

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The topic of this presentation is the Italian national settings for energy communities. This is primarily connected to the economic aspects and policy and regulations aspect of the new clean energy communities. The information in this presentation is taken from the NEWCOMERS project research activity, summarized in the deliverable titled Description of polycentric settings in the partner countries that you can find on this link: https://www.newcomersh2020.eu/upload/files/D2_2_newcomers_typology_of_new_clean_energy_communities_DEF.pdf We developed the content of this presentation with the expert support by prof. Jenny Palm and dr. Katharina Reindl from the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University in Sweden, the NEWCOMERS project consortium partner. We recommend you to first take a look at the introductory Content Item about the importance of national settings for the operations of energy communities. 2. CENTRAL PART – CONTENT In this presentation, we focus only on data about Italy that represent the national setting for the energy communities. You can find more detailed data here 1. Socioeconomic conditions Italy has a population of 60 400 000 citizens on an area of 294 000 km2. The unemployment rate is 9.3% (March 2020), which is above the EU average on 6.2%. Technical systems I will shortly describe Italy's energy system, for more details, please read our deliverable, which is linked a. Energy production and consumption Since 2001, the energy production in Italy has steadily increased, mainly due to renewable energy. Italy's largest sources of domestic energy production are biofuels and waste, followed by crude oil, natural gas and geothermal. (TPES fossil fuels are in the lead, 80% fossile fuels) Most energy is consumed in the transport sector, followed closely by industry and households. b. The electricity system Italy is a net importer of energy, importing around 15 % of their electricity consumption. Most electricity comes from natural gas, coal and hydro, while non-hydro renewables had an almost 25 % share. c. The electricity grid and smart grids Italy has one Transmission System Operator, whose main responsibility is electricity emergency response. Until 2015, there has been a comprehensive deployment of smart grid with almost 32 million installed smart meters in homes as well as businesses. The leader of this process was Italy's largest distribution company Enel Distribuzione. You can read more about Italy's electricity grid in the document. d. The heating systems Around 5% of the population is connected to district heating networks. Most commonly these networks are small or medium sized, which means a connected volume of less than 5.0 million m3, with varying heat technologies in use, often combined. There are more biomass-fired networks, but they are normally smaller. Natural gas co-generation is usually used in larger DH networks, followed by solid municipal waste incineration. e. Energy related emissions The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have decreased since 2008. This decrease took place due to various different factors such as increased use of natural gas and RES in the power sector as well as improved energy efficiency. Another contribution was the economic recession. 2. Institutional setting Now we're moving on to the institutional setting, where we'll briefly discuss political goals and policies, tax schemes and prices. a. Political goals and national energy agreements In 2013, Italy published their National Energy Strategy (NES), which goals are the alignment of energy prices with the rest of Europe, reduction of energy imports, foster sustainable economic growth in the energy sector and meeting as well as surpassing the objectives set by EU Climate and Energy Package. b. Performance on EU 2020 energy targets The Renewable Energy Action Plan in Italy started in 2010 with the goal to reach 17% of final energy consumption from RES by 2020. A priority in Italy’s energy policy is the increase of RES and energy efficiency. Italy's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 17 % between 1990 and 2018, which puts Italy on a good track to achieve EU goals. c. Electricity market, policy and law The market liberalization in Italy started in 1998/1999. As of now, Italy has the fourth largest electricity market in relation to IEA Europe. 17 % of electricity supply in Italy was provided by publicly owned company GSE that is developing renewable resources and energy efficiency. d. Subsidies and tax schemes Energy consumption in Italy has high taxation, although industrial users and agriculture have some benefits regarding tax exemptions. Waste, biomass and other renewable energy is also exempt from taxes if it is used for heat or electricity. e. Electricity prices Italy has the sixth highest electricity rates in Europe. In 2014 the government adopted specific provisions for a cost reduction for a more affordable electricity. The cost of incentives for renewables is paid through additional charges on customers’ bills. 3. Actors Now we will shortly name important public and market actors. If you want to know more, take a look at our deliverable linked on the slide. a. Government and Authorities Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic. Its parliament has two houses with the same power, the chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic, with the important role of discussing and approving laws. Other important institutional actors include different ministries, committee's and institutes. If you click on the button on the screen, you can explore these institutions in much more detail. b. Market actors There are three retail markets in Italy: the safeguarded market; the enhanced protection market; and the open market. Their largest retailer is Enel, with a 85 % share in the enhanced protection market and 35 % share in the free market. c. Energy communities In Italy, the initiatives relating to the development of energy communities are at an early stage. At the moment, the only initiatives that involve citizens and offer alternatives to the usual players in the electricity market are energy cooperatives.

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Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 License

This multimedia content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 License. However, the license of the specific external resource(s) referred to in this presentation might differ from CC BY-SA 4.0 license and therefore needs to be checked before remix, adaptation, or other kinds of reuse.

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 License

This multimedia content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 License. However, the license of the specific external resource(s) referred to in this presentation might differ from CC BY-SA 4.0 license and therefore needs to be checked before remix, adaptation, or other kinds of reuse. More info »

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  • Economics
  • Policy and regulations
  • Educate me
  • Energy communities
  • Policy-makers and decision-makers
  • Theory
  • Research
  • Statistics
  • Statistics
  • Italy

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