While on the one hand "it is necessary to reduce our country's energy dependence on foreign countries", on the other the technological response capacity of our industry is reduced, also due to the lack of a policy for research and growth. And so the example to follow is that of Germany which has balanced incentives for technological demand with incentives for industrial supply. This is the picture traced by the ENEA commissioner, Giovanni Lelli, after hearing from the Senate Industry Commission on the national energy strategy.
The premise is that "it is necessary to reduce our country's energy dependence on foreign countries and, at the same time, contribute to the objectives envisaged within the EU as regards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, through energy saving, use of renewable energies and greater energy efficiency”.
But “the structure of the energy markets, despite the liberalization processes, is still conditioned by a few operators - says Lelli - and limited by deficiencies in the network infrastructures, particularly in the South. The possibility for final consumers to switch to the free market, allowed since 2003 for gas and since 2007 for electricity, is still exploited today by a limited number of users. The level of taxation on energy products is among the highest in Europe: more than 40% higher than the EU average”.
And there is another "critical aspect", which concerns renewable sources: the technological response capacity offered by our country's industry, which in recent years "has not been able to adequately adapt to the rapid increase in demand for systems and components , strongly stimulated in turn by incentives”. Lelli explains: "If on the one hand Italy stands out for the generosity of green energy incentive tariffs, especially with regard to electricity generation, on the other hand it is rather lacking in terms of policies to support the growth of national industry, particularly in the fastest growing sectors, such as photovoltaics. The domestic demand for systems and components for renewable source installations, in fact, is still mainly covered by recourse to imports from abroad”.
The ENEA commissioner shows some figures: although in 2010 Italy was the fourth country in the world in terms of investments in the renewable energy sectors with almost 14 billion euros, recording the highest growth rate (+136%) among the 18 countries that have invested the most in renewable energies, “the share of resources allocated to technological innovation and the development of manufacturing capacity is still too small compared to the total. The sectors of renewable sources, in fact, today constitute a complex and increasingly global market, and in this context an increase in national manufacturing capacity would ensure greater certainty of development also in terms of employment, linking the profits of companies no longer exclusively to trend of the internal demand for technologies, which will probably decrease again in the short term, but also due to the expansion underway in numerous foreign markets.”
Here then is that “from this point of view, Germany constitutes an emblematic case to follow, as it has been able to balance between incentives for the demand for technologies and incentives for industrial supply, basing itself - explains Lelli - on targeted and stable policies over time that have guarantee the certainty of investments and attract foreign capital to the national territory. The measures envisaged to support companies, which include cash reimbursements of direct costs, loans at subsidized rates, public guarantees to banks, incentives to support personnel costs and for technological R&D activities, have been able to stimulate investments in new production capacity located on the national territory and consequently reduce the tendency to import technologies for renewables, despite the fact that Germany is in the first places in Europe in terms of installed power”.
