Italy has never had a serious energy policy, at least since the 1987 nuclear referendum. And what it has had in recent decades has been at least imprudent. The war in Ukraine has exposed all our weaknesses in this strategic sector. Now we change, but how? The premier explained it in his information in Parliament, of which we report below the crucial part dedicated to energy. Gas, renewables and strategic routes: Draghi changes Italy's energy policy. No more Nimby and end of bureaucracy. Larger quantities of gas from Tap (Azerbaijan), TransMed (Algeria) and GreenStream (Libya). And in the emergency of the Ukraine-Russia war, coal too. With all due respect to the M5S - which was a fierce opponent of the Tap in Puglia - and the League, which has always flattened on Putin.
Renewables and gas, is coal coming back? The emergency
The revival of coal is only an option – at the moment – in an emergency, if Russia turns off its gas taps in retaliation for its war with Ukraine. The Ukraine-Russia crisis will not be quick or easy to resolve. It is necessary to prepare on the one hand to face the emergency, on the other to promote structural interventions. This is the meaning of Mario Draghi's speech.
Starting from carbon, there are seven plants in Italy and, according to the National Plan (Pniec), they will have to be closed or converted by the end of 2025 to meet the EU's decarbonisation objectives. We have one in Liguria, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio and Puglia and two more in Sardinia. Five of these are registered to Enel, one A2A and one belongs to the Czechoslovakian group EPH.
In the event of a supply crisis, greater "flexibility" in gas consumption is also envisaged in the immediate future. Which means suspensions for industries or even for electricity production, with repercussions on domestic consumption as well.
Renewables and gas, three pillars for change
The information from President Mario Draghi recalled the need for important interventions. We try to explain which ones, reading between the lines of his speech.
First of all diversify flows, strengthening the southern corridor. This means passing more Algerian, Libyan and Azeri gas through Italian pipelines and reducing imports from Russia at the same time. Then you have to report the volume of the Italian gas production at least 20% of imports (today around 70 billion in total). Ravenna and Sicily are the areas to look at. The point is clear: gas will be indispensable in the energy transition which will be long. And therefore it is illusory to think of being able to do without it in the short to medium term.
In diversification you have to think about increase the regasifiers. It is worth remembering that the one in Rovigo took 12 years (instead of 2-3) and pitched battles to overcome the resistance.
For renewables, the battle is over the bureaucracy that slows down authorizations or blocks them. Therefore, simplifications or even replacement of the central state on the defaulting local authorities are to be expected.
But here are Mario Draghi's words spoken in the Chamber on Friday morning 25 February.
The text of Mario Draghi's information in Parliament
" major concern is the energy sector, which has already been affected by the increases in recent months: around 45% of the gas we import comes from Russia, up from 27% ten years ago.
The events of these days demonstrate the imprudence of not having diversified more our energy sources and our suppliers in the last decades.
In Italy, we have reduced gas production from 17 billion cubic meters per year in 2000 to approximately 3 billion cubic meters in 2020 – against national consumption which has remained constant between approximately 70 and 90 billion cubic meters ”.“We must proceed quickly on the front of diversification, to overcome our vulnerability as soon as possible and avoid the risk of future crises.
The Government constantly monitors gas flows, in close coordination with the European institutions.
We have met the Gas Emergency Committee several times, to regulate and analyze operational data and possible scenarios"."The storage Italians benefit from having had, at the beginning of winter, a better situation than that of other European countries, also thanks to the quality of our infrastructures.
The filling level had reached 90% at the end of October, while other European countries were around 75%.
Inventories were then used at full capacity and in February they already reached the level they generally have at the end of March. This situation, which would have been more serious in the absence of adequate infrastructure and policies, is similar to that experienced by other European countries including Germany".“The end of winter and the arrival of milder temperatures allow us to look to the coming months with greater confidence, but we must take action to further improve our storage capacity for the coming years.
Italy is also committed to pushing the European Union in the direction of common storage mechanisms, which help all countries to face moments of temporary reduction in supplies.
We hope that this crisis will finally accelerate a positive response on the issue".“The Government is however at work to prepare all the necessary measures for better manage a possible energy crisis.
We hope these plans are unnecessary, but we cannot be caught unprepared.
Le emergency measures include greater flexibility in gas consumption, suspensions in the industrial sector, and rules on gas consumption in the thermoelectric sector, where load reduction measures also exist".“The Government is also working to increase alternative supplies.
We intend to increase the liquefied natural gas imported from other routes, such as the United States. The American President, Joe Biden, has offered his willingness to support the allies with more supplies, and I want to thank him for that ”.“However, our usage capacity is limited by the small number of regasification terminals working.
For the future, a reflection on these infrastructures is also very appropriate".“The Government then intends to work for increase flows from pipelines that are not fully loaded – such as TAP from Azerbaijan, TransMed from Algeria and Tunisia, GreenStream from Libya.
The reopening of coal-fired plants may be necessary, to fill any shortcomings in the immediate future”.“The Government is ready to intervene to further reduce the price of energy, if this is necessary. Yes, it is necessary”.
“For the future, the crisis obliges us to pay more attention to the geopolitical risks weighing on our energy policy, and to reduce vulnerability of our supplies.
I want to thank Minister Cingolani for the work he carries out every day on this issue which is so important for our future".“I spoke about gas, but the most valid answer in the long run lies in proceeding quickly, as we are doing, in the direction of a greater development of renewable sources, also and above all with a greater simplification of the procedures for installing the systems.
In this regard, I would like to note that the obstacles to greater speed on this path are not technical, they are not technological, but they are just bureaucratic""But gas remains essential as a transition fuel.
Source: Ukraine, briefing by President Draghi in Parliament on Friday 25 February 2022
We need to strengthen the southern corridor, improve our regasification capacity and increase domestic production at the expense of imports.
Because gas produced in one's own country is more manageable and can be cheaper.
The historic crisis that Italy and Europe are facing could be long and difficult to recompose, also because it is confirming the existence of profound differences on the vision of the international world order which will not be easy to overcome”.
