The Italian PV sector is in a transition period as it faces regulatory upheavals and requires new investment to strengthen the production system and supply chain in response to opportunities under the Net Zero Industry Act, the European Union strategy to bolster industrial competitiveness for decarbonization. This was the main message of the tenth forum of Italia Solare, the leading PV association in Italy, held in Rome this week.
Italia Solare noted regulatory changes that followed the government’s publication of two decree laws affecting agrivoltaics, suitable areas, and authorization processes for new photovoltaic projects. Developers told pv magazine Italia that, given the changes introduced in the past two weeks, almost only agrivoltaic projects will be viable. These projects will still require environmental authorization, adding complexity in the coming months.
“There are some wonderful individual experiences, but it is not a market: it is not a scalable mechanism at the moment,” said Andrea Brumgnach, vice president of Italia Solare, at the opening of the second day of the tenth annual forum of the association led by Paolo Rocco Viscontini.
Brumgnach points out that each configuration has, on average, about 10 members, with an average of about 94 kWp per configuration; 84% of the configurations are connected to low voltage.
The government recently cut funding for RECs from €2.2 billion ($2.56 billion) to €795.5 million.
Brumgnach expressed the dissatisfaction of Italia Solare members with the funding cuts and a series of “communication errors.” Nevertheless, the vice president of Italia Solare estimated investments in RECs at €3.64 trillion and more than 58,000 applications.
The parties also discussed the relationship between Italy and China, arguing that the Italian production system must collaborate with China. This was also stated by Stefano Lorenzi, chief executive of 3SUN. It was reiterated by all Italian trade associations, including Italia Solare.
The associations are also calling for Opex support for Italian factories considered essential to the photovoltaic industry, including manufacturers of inverters, batteries, and panels, and possibly cells.
During the conference, the Italian energy agency GSE published results of the largest first solar energy auction under Italy's new incentive scheme for renewable energy, the “transitional” FER X program.
For PV, the auction closed with an average awarded price of €0.05682/kWh, which is 37.34% below the ceiling price set by Italian authorities, and a highest accepted bid of €0.06267/kWh.
The two-day conference highlighted the results. Tommaso Barbetti, partner at energy consultancy Elemens, explained that the area that attracted the most participants was Sicily, with a total of 4,011 MW of proposed plants, of which 3,376 were successful.
As a result, the southern region, and Sicily in particular, is beginning to become crowded, but Elemens points out that the “conservative” target could be revised upwards
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