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Because the electricity sector strikes the Sostegni decree

2 years ago babelfish

Because the electricity sector strikes the Sostegni decree

The Elettricità Futura and Anev associations mistreat the Sostegni decree. Here are criticisms and proposals to the government

During the hearing in the Senate on the new Sostegni decree (dl Sostegni), the president of Elettricità Futura – the association of the Italian electricity sector – warned that, with the current generation mix, the electricity bill in 2022 will be of double more expensive than 2019.

WHAT THE PRESIDENT OF ELECTRICITY FUTURA SAID

According to the estimate provided by Agostino Re Rebaudengo, in 2022 electricity spending in Italy will be around 95 billion euros, more than double the value (44 billion) recorded in 2019, the last year before the pandemic of coronavirus.

RENEWABLES AND GAS

The increase, said the president of Elettricità Futura, is linked to the high prices of natural gas on the European market : fuel is the most used raw material in Italy for the generation of electricity.

If, on the other hand, the Italian generation mix – explained Re Rebaudengo – had "already reached the 2030 target this year, namely 72 percent of renewables on the electricity generation mix, the 2022 bill, despite the incredible increase in gas , would be substantially equal to that of 2019 ". The savings for Italy would have been "over 50 billion".

Renewable sources currently account for 40 percent of the total national electricity mix.

THE PROPOSALS TO THE GOVERNMENT

Elettricità Futura also reported to the government – which is working on a new intervention – three actions that would allow it to "structurally solve the expensive bill emergency". In fact, electricity and natural gas bills also grew in the first quarter of 2022, by 55 and 41.8 percent respectively, and are likely to continue to increase.

The association proposes an extraordinary simplification of the authorization procedures which should allow the installation of 15 gigawatts of new renewable capacity per year, instead of 1 GW. Added to this is a moral suasion , that is, a work of persuasion by the government towards the regions and local authorities aimed at favoring the rapid release of authorizations for renewable energy plants. Today the times are very long: for the authorization of a wind power plant, for example, it can take more than five years .

Lastly, Elettricità Futura asked to accelerate the process of identifying areas suitable for the installation of renewable capacity, so that it will be completed at least by 2022.

NO TO ARTICLE 16 OF THE SUPPORT DL

During the hearing in the Senate, Re Rebaudengo reiterated the opposition of his association – as well as ANEV and other operators in the Italian renewables market – to the measures contained in article 16 of the Sostegni decree which, in short, establishes a maximum ceiling at the price of electricity from renewable sources.

THE MOTIVATIONS

For Elettricità Futura the measure is counterproductive, and has offered ten reasons.

  1. It does not resolve the ongoing emergency situation linked to gas prices
  2. It jeopardizes the European Fit for 55 targets, for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030
  3. They are in contrast with the indications of the European Commission of last October
  4. They hinder the achievement of the PNRR energy transition objectives, which provides for an increase in renewable capacity
  5. Disputes between operators and the state will increase
  6. They alter market dynamics
  7. They distort the European wholesale energy markets
  8. They affect the free pricing of electricity
  9. They discourage investment and make the country lose its attractiveness
  10. They undermine the confidence of operators who have already made investments in renewable plants

King Rebaudengo said that Spain and Romania, which had introduced measures similar to the Italian ones, "had to withdraw them, or drastically downsize them". The law, according to him, also presents "evident profiles of constitutional illegitimacy".

THE OPINION OF ANEV

ANEV, the National Wind Energy Association, which brings together the Italian wind power sector, also expressed itself against article 16 of the Sostegni dl.

In a protest statement for the cut in revenues from renewable plants, ANEV writes that "this situation of soaring energy costs is […] caused by the growing cost of producing energy from fossil sources, in particular from gas, while Renewables by their nature have a fixed cost of production, not burning fuel ".

The association explained that the government, rather than cut the remuneration of renewable energy producers, "should have intervened both in the past years through the promised and not implemented energy transition, and through adequate supply systems for the necessary resources". And he complained about the delays in the authorization procedures for energy plants, "blocked by the Superintendencies".

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/elettricita-futura-rinnovabili-dl-sostegni/ on Fri, 11 Feb 2022 15:05:43 +0000.