One day, perhaps, we will all be small producers of energy. It will be enough to have a photovoltaic system on the roof of one's house and a domestic battery, a device as cumbersome as a household appliance which will allow us to don't waste the sun's energy in the hours of darkness and to be autonomous up to more than 90% of our electricity needs. And why not to have some to re-introduce into the system, earning it economically. But without going too far in time, even today, with less than 8.000 euros, every private citizen can have a 3 kW solar panel (enough for the consumption of a typical family of 4) and a storage system of 4,8, XNUMX kw/h, which occupies the same space as a water heater and allows self-consumption of at least 70%.
The result is a benefit of over a thousand euros a year for each family, according to estimates by Enel X, the company that offers the complete solution together with the Modena-based technological startup Aton Green Storage, which designs and manufactures batteries with a certain attention also to design: "We are in the land of Ferrari, an icon of Made in Italy style Italy. Even the packaging of our products is designed to become part of the furniture”, explains Aldo Balugani, founding partner of a company founded in 2015 that does everything in Italy (except the cells, which come from China) and which is already in the homes of 2.500 households, 15% of which are also foreign, between Spain (where the partnership with the Enel group takes place through the subsidiary Endesa) and France.
“Sales – he added Francesco Venturini, CEO of Enel X, which for this particular market acts only in partnership with Aton Green Storage – have recorded a real boom in recent months, testifying that the market is changing and with it also the sensitivity of consumers: only between the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first of 2019, the sales of photovoltaic systems + batteries increased by 250%, so more than tripled”. The reason for the growth is very simple: in a world increasingly oriented towards electricity, the home too becomes the protagonist of the transition, with an active role (generating clean energy, reducing its dispersion to a minimum and helping to stabilize supply and demand) and prices finally accessible to a wide audience. “In 2012 – reveals Lorenzo Pizzoferro, specialist engineer at Enel – just a 3 kw solar panel cost around 18.000 euros. Today it costs just over 4.000 euros and by adding the Aton batteries our offer is 7.890 euros”.
Not a small investment, considering that after 10 years the batteries lose 20% of their recharging capacity, even if on the other hand the system has eternal life on paper and is guaranteed for 10 years. Calculator in hand, Enel X estimates, on an average annual consumption of 4.000 kWh and by purchasing a system costing 7.890 euros (the standard one, but the storage capacity can also be increased with more expensive solutions) a saving of 525 euros in bills, which must be added a contribution from the GSE of 128 euros, the tax deduction at 50% for 10 years (395 euros a year) and an equivalent increase in the committed power which would be equivalent to 64 euros a year. Total saved per year: 1.112 euros.
“We would like an increasingly democratic product – adds Balugani – and less and less elite, which is increasingly considered as a household appliance. Our technology allows self-consumption of over 90% and is also very safe: we have carried out all the cybersecurity tests, we can monitor the devices in real time and so far we have not had to do any maintenance work". The idea is that of a km 0 of energy: "Let's think like this for food, but the same can be done for energy: even energy has its "bio" and can be produced at km 0. The only thing missing is product knowledge. The need is already there, because we need more and more energy and ever cleaner energy, but customers are not aware of these opportunities and of the fact that they are no longer so futuristic and inaccessible”.
“The domestic market – said Venturini – is also interesting for another reason, the strategic one: according to the objectives of decarbonisation by 2030, Italy will have to double the installed wind power capacity from 10 GW in 2017 to 19 GW, and multiply by 2,5 times that of photovoltaics, from 20 GW in 2017 to 51 GW. This means quintupling the number of plants in 10 years' time”. Where to find the space? Taking advantage of the surface of the roofs, which in Italy is equivalent to 760 sq km: "Considering that 1 kw requires 6 sq m of surface - concludes Venturini - it would be sufficient to exploit 1/6 of Italian roofs". Hopefully avoiding that the km 0 of energy ends up disfiguring the architectural heritage of our cities.
