By 2030, at least half of electricity consumption will be covered by renewable sources. This is one of the qualifying choices of Sen, the National Electricity Strategy, which the Ministers of Development Carlo Calenda and of the Environment Gian Luca Galletti launched on Monday, opening the official consultations on the document which sets out the strategic indications on energy from here to 2030. There is now one month to send observations and proposals to the two ministries, before final drafting and approval.
After a long wait and longer processing times than planned, Sen has therefore reached the crucial point. "Although the scenario analyzes carried out in support of this strategy proposal - states the message addressed by the two ministers - show that Italy would respect the European commitments to 2030 with a share of renewables of 24%, we believe that we can and must go further and we indicated for renewables, a minimum target of 27%, which will translate, for the electricity sector, into covering at least half of consumption with renewable sources“. Also in the electricity sector, the ministers call for an acceleration of decarbonisation “by quickly launching the interventions that will allow for zero coal use in the electricity sector by 2030 at the latest“. A very demanding and close target considering that Enel is aiming for the global decarbonisation (zero emissions) of its production by 2050 and expects to get out of coal over the next 15 years.
The strategy of the Italian government, the day after the closure of the G7 Environment meeting which took place in Bologna, focuses on three pillars: "increasing the country's competitiveness aligning energy prices with those in Europei, improve the security of supply and of the supply, decarbonise the energy system in line with the long-term objectives of the Paris Agreement, which must be confirmed as irreversible”.
To achieve the three objectives of competitiveness-decarbonisation-security, "the role of theenergy efficiency, able to simultaneously meet the three objectives and contain the energy expenditure of households and businesses, as they will go revised the functioning tools of the energy markets to increase its competitiveness.
Sen focuses on renewables but assigns to gas a key role: “It will have to play an essential role for the transition, in electricity generation, in the provision of services to the electricity market and in other uses, including LNG in heavy and maritime transport. As a complex geopolitical context persists, to safeguard the security of supplies, interventions will therefore be put in place to diversify the routes of origin, and eliminate the cost gap with the other European countries". This is what is happening with the realization of the gas pipeline Tap in Puglia which imports gas from Azerbaijan.
Finally, oil: Sen is pushing for a “rationalization of the downstream oil sector, moving towards biorefineries and the use of sustainable biofuels instead of those deriving from petroleum, in particular by developing national biomethane supply chains and the circular economy”.
