In Italy, efficiency measures are not growing at a pace in line with the increase in the decarbonisation targets of community directives. In fact, with the end of the 110% deductions and the possibility of transferring tax credits, interventions in the residential sector have suffered a sharp slowdown, while in the industrial sector there is still too timid growth. What matters is the absence of integration logics between energy efficiency and renewables that would lead to an improvement in CO reduction2 of redevelopment projects. This is what emerges from the tenth edition of Cesef Workshop, Study Center for the Economics and Management of Energy Efficiency of act, organized today in Milan and which sees CVA and Edison Next as strategic partners of the initiative.
On this occasion the Cesef report 2023, which analyzes opportunities and challenges of strategic integration between energy efficiency interventions and renewable energy sources.
The integration between energy efficiency and renewables
According to the study, the integration of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources "is more cost-efficient than energy efficiency alone and more effective than renewables alone". The profitability of integrated interventions, measured by the net present value, increases up to 29% for public buildings, a factor that reduces the return on investments, an essential element for being able to finance projects. This is ultimately reflected in a lower cost to decarbonize than separate projects.
Cesef: proposals to incentivize investments
According to the Cesef study center, in order to incentivize investments and achieve the new objectives set by the European Union, various policy changes currently in force, based on rewarding logic for interventions that achieve better energy performance, and consistent with the decarbonisation path.
In particular, for the residential sector Cefef indicates the introduction of a system of modular rates that first of all favor social housing with a 90% deduction, followed by a rate of 60-70% for buildings with the worst energy performance. For them Public administrations, the study proposes a strengthening of the Thermal Account, allocating more resources to public bodies, and providing a connection between this and the Energy Communities tool to promote photovoltaics. In the industrial sectorfinally, integration could be favored by the long-awaited establishment of auctions complementary to the White Certificates system. According to the CESEF proposal, these would be specific auctions to combine renewable technologies and efficiency interventions, thus rewarding the greater investment made by operators.
The study also developed new targeted incentives, focused on heat pumps and decarbonisation of the energy-intensive industry. “To encourage greater use of the former, the proposal is that of an incentive for use that acts directly on the cost of the electricity bill, supported by discount deductions on the invoice and transfer of credit for the replacement and installation of new systems. To reduce industrial emissions, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors, an auction incentive system is proposed, which increasingly rewards the greatest reduction in CO2 that integrated interventions guarantee,” explains the report.
“Energy efficiency plays a fundamental role in achieving the new European targets on reducing consumption, but it is only in combination with renewable sources, through integrated interventions, that the reduction of emissions can be optimized and maximized,” he said. declared Stefano Clerici, CEO of AGICI. “With the 2023 edition of the CESEF Report we wanted to illustrate which are the major opportunities deriving from an integrated approach which, if supported by an adequate incentive system, can be the key to accelerating and making the decarbonisation path economically competitive”, he said. concluded Michele Perotti, director of Agici's Energy Efficiency Unit.
Energy Efficiency Manager Award
Furthermore, on the occasion of the workshop the “Energy Efficiency Manager” award to Emanuela Trentin, CEO of Siram Veolia, for "having contributed to the diffusion of the culture of energy efficiency through the promotion of innovative and digital interventions, oriented towards collaboration between public and private". The award was presented by Cristian Acquisipace, CEO of Renovit and winner of the last edition of the award. "I am honored to have received this award, for which I thank Agici and all the electorate", he commented Emanuela Trentin, CEO of Siram Veolia. “This is a prestigious recognition that I would like to share with the entire Siram Veolia team, who works alongside me every day so that energy efficiency is recognized as a fundamental contribution in our country's energy transition path. The expertise of the resources of Siram Veolia, which has been operating throughout Italy for a century, is the asset in which we will continue to invest, together with digitalisation and artificial intelligence. To overcome the environmental and social challenges that await us, we need a new vision of sustainability that puts energy efficiency and ESCOs at the center. An objective that we can only achieve through collective action capable of involving the public and private sectors and public opinion together."
