There are also the "big names" of the sector in the army of companies that will appeal to the Tar against the incentive-spreading decree, the one that reshapes the incentive tariffs for photovoltaics with a significant retroactive cut. Some groups, like Asja Environment Italy (founded and chaired by Agostino Re Rebaudengo, president of Assorinnovabili), it was foreseeable that they would take the field. Others, however, it was less obvious they would have come forward: Enel green power, controlled by Enel, in turn controlled with a 30% stake by the Treasury, has decided to "challenge" its shareholder, so to speak. And then Iren is among the eligible candidates, while Edison will not join the appeal. On falck a question mark remains.
Overall there are at least 800 special purpose companies, and among these a myriad of small operators, who have accepted the invitation launched months ago by Assorinovabili, the association that represents large and small groups in the sector. The companies of will also participate in the race for appeals confagriculture, medium or large and more innovative ones that had invested in photovoltaics on their land (but also biomass) and who now see their investment at risk. In fact, both immediately expressed their opposition to the new mechanism introduced by the Competitiveness law and then implemented with a decree (attached here) by Minister of Development Federica Guidi which demanded sacrifices from operators in order to reduce the weight of incentives on bills (today they represent 82% of system charges which account for 22% of the electricity bill), spreading them over a longer period of time (24 years instead of 20) or cutting them as a percentage of the useful life of the plants. The figure that the Mise intends to recover is quantified at 600 million a year in the period 2015-2019.
And after so many protests, now we are taking action with one double strategy: first stop the Tar where the appeal (or appeals depending on the line that is being defined in these hours) will be presented and the aim is to obtain a suspension. The discussion should take place around mid-December, in any case by the 23rd, the day on which the time to make the choices required of the operators expires. The second stage is the Constitutional Court, to challenge the retroactivity of the provision, judged to be detrimental to acquired rights and aimed above all at a category of operators, those of the photovoltaic sector with power exceeding 200 kW. Alternatively, the appeal could go to the European Court of Justice, also to shorten the time compared to the long procedure for involving the Consultation. To assist the operators are Valerio Onida, for the constitutional profiles, and the Grimaldi law firm.
At stake, from the point of view of European law, there would be legal certainty or the possibility of basing one's investments on certain rules that do not change over time. This argument has also been used in Spain where the government, in the midst of the crisis, cut incentives unceremoniously and where it was also overwhelmed by appeals from revolting producers who also appealed to international arbitrage: more expensive but certainly faster.
What frightens operators, electric or agricultural, in Italy are the financial plans agreed with the banks that have obtained as a guarantee precisely the incentives that the State would have paid over the 20 years guaranteed by the Energy Bill, before it was modified in various stages . The latest, in fact, with the incentive-spreading decree of the Mise.
In particular, the appeals target option "b" of the decree, the one which provides for a cut of the incentive from 15 to 20% for the first five years, recoverable with an increase of the same amount over the last five years of the incentive. Now we will see how the appeal will proceed. The feeling, however, is that the associations want to keep their doors open to ensure possible adjustments during construction; also to encourage a (rather unlikely, at the moment) rethink by the government.
Attachments: Ministerial Decree_17th October 2014_incenti_photovoltaic_superiore_200kw.pdf
