Renewable energy communities? Excellent idea to entice citizens to invest in renewables by pooling the energy produced and consumed, guaranteeing (at least in theory) some significant savings in the bill. But here's the usual Italian hitch: the bombastic announcements of the institutions on advantages of this solution follow the tangles of bureaucracy, the uncertainty of the rules, i standard delays. And so whoever should promote and possibly do business with renewable energy communities (CERs) remains cautiously at stake. The Ref Ricerche laboratory tells us this by disseminating the results of a survey among 62 professionals who work in the generation and sale of electricity but also in infrastructures, for example for electric mobility and in the adjacent sector of water services.
Well, that is, bad. Too many obstacles, as emerges from the sample test which follows by only a few months the much more enthusiastic survey produced last January which had ignited concrete hopes for a complete definition of sector legislation, which is still lacking today. And so of the 62 operators consulted, only 9 say they have dedicated some time to reflecting on the CERs, 12 stopped at a summary evaluation and 11 gave up even before starting to really think about it. First operational acts drafted? Of the 62 consulted only 10 have started to do something. Too many uncertainties.
Stop the willing
While a true framework is still missing and the conclusion of one is awaited consultation launched by Arera (the Authority for energy, water and the environment) here is the most relevant obstacle: the difficulty of bringing different subjects to an agreement following that privileged model which represents the strong idea of energy communities , or rather an alliance between local administrations, small private electricity producers with renewable plants and normal consumers who can be part of the energy communities even without having a renewable energy plant but who, also thanks to this tool, can be encouraged to have one. An excellent idea to "transform - remarks Ref researches - private citizens, families, companies from simple consumers to active producers of clean energy" favoring so much declaimed energy transition.
It is a pity that the already difficult relationship between citizens and local administrations in this case finds an additional obstacle in the heavy procedural uncertainties. Think of the difficulty of drawing up the statutes of energy communities on the basis of a reference model that is still missing, regulatory references that are still incomplete but already complex, or the transition still in progress between a technical scheme which currently provides for the option of establishing an energy community renewable only between users connected to a secondary electrical distribution cabin but with the promise (still undetermined in terms of times and methods) of expand the opportunity also to everyone connected to a primary cabin.
Skills wanted
The second obstacle highlighted by the interviewees derives directly from the first: the lack of technical and regulatory skills capable of directing and guiding candidates for energy communities, even if on this front an applause must be given to the Gse, the manager of energy services, the public body which manages all the economic flows concerning renewables and which has recently set up a dedicated department precisely to the consultancy and guidance of candidates for energy communities, starting with the municipalities that intend to promote this solution. It is urgent to hurry, also in order not to disillusion and therefore alienate those who wanted to believe in the CERs.
