In a situation of true and full energy emergency, with the price of gas quadrupled and the same electricity still produced for about 60% with gas, the way out could come from renewable energies which instead remain blocked and subject to prejudices and urban legends.
Future electricity the association - member of Confindustria - which collects beyond 500 electricity companies Italian companies are launching an appeal that is also clear criticism of the current government provisions that block resources and investments that could instead be used to support the Italian economy.
At the moment there are applications forwarded to Terna in the waiting room for the connection of new plants that would supply 170 giga watts of renewables: the companies in the sector ask that at least a third of them - equal to around 60 GW – is authorized by June. They are ready to invest 85 billion and create 80.000 jobs. With the non-negligible effect of creating independence from Russian gas and reducing the cost of bills.
In the next 3 years, new renewable plants for 60 GW
"Installing 60 GW of renewables in the next 3 years is the structural solution to increase energy security and independence, and drastically reduce the electricity bill," he said Agostino Re Rebaudengo, President of Elettricità Futura, in his speech at the opening of the press conference held today in Milan, inviting the Government to implement an extraordinary action on the authorization procedures together with the Regions. “We are ready to work with the Government to identify the extraordinary measures, the most suitable areas, the parameters to achieve the objective. The electricity sector is ready to contribute to Italy's energy security by investing 85 billion euros and creating 80.000 new jobs”.
Renewables, know-how and capital are there: unleash the authorisations
“Already in 2011 we demonstrated that we could install over 11 GW despite having less performing technologies and less efficient installation systems. Now we are installing only 1 billion per year, while we have the capacity to install 20 GW of renewables per year”.
Italy represents the worst case of bureaucracy in Europe, no other country has so many problems in authorizing new renewable plants. In Italy, an authorization process for a renewable plant has an average duration of 7 years, while the legislation provides for a duration of only 1 year.
Renewables, such as Sostegni Tre can block everything
Il Erg group (acronym of Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone) of Genoa already 15 years ago had made the epochal choice by deciding to switch from oil to renewables and now sees a further obstacle from those who should instead support the economy. “We are all ready to relaunch investments” said Paolo Luigi Merli, Vice President of Elettricità Futura and CEO of Erg. “Instead we find ourselves with a decree [Sostegni ter decree n. 4/2022 published in the Official Gazette no. 21 of 27 January 2022 ed] and specifically its article 16 which we consider a real witch hunt because it affects renewables and also goes against the European tool box: we expressly ask that this article 16 be withdrawn."
In concrete terms, what would 60 GW of new plants mean?
New plants for 60 GW would do save 15 billion cubic meters of gas each year, or 20% of the gas imported. "Or, in other words, more than 7 times what the government expects to achieve with the increase in natural gas extraction."
Another important contribution could come from the growth of the production of biomethane going from just one billion cubic meters to as many as 10 billion, using the organic fraction of urban, industrial and agricultural waste.
For example, 60 GW of new renewables could be distributed as follows: 12 of wind, hydroelectric, bioenergy and others and 48 of photovoltaics which would require an area equal to 48.000 hectares.
If, purely hypothetically, the 48 GW of photovoltaics were all built on agricultural land, only 0,3% of the total agricultural area would be used, or 1,3% of the agricultural area already abandoned today. Moreover, the many agro-voltaic systems envisaged will not take away even one square meter of land.
Renewables, the urban legends to debunk
"In Italy we have plenty of water especially in the north, wind and sun in the center and in the south, it is the country made especially for the use of renewables" he said Renato Mazzoncini, Vice President of Elettricità Futura and CEO of A2A. “and instead this source of energy represents only about 40% in Italy”.
“Regarding renewables, there are several urban legends to dispel,” he added Nicholas Lanzetta, Vice President of Elettricità Futura and Director of Enel Italia. “The first concerns the accusation of being expensive: instead if those 60 GW could be freed up we would have a 40% savings on the electricity bill, so it would be good for the environment and for your wallet. We must also think that dependence on gas will not go away, after one crisis there will be another, and therefore a solution must be found. Another important issue is that of repowering: with the renewal of existing plants, production could be increased by 30-50%”.
