For instance, should Article 65 of the Italian government's economic liberalisation decree not be changed, the future of large-scale, ground-mounted photovoltaic plants does not look bright. Angelo Prete of GT Solar commented: "These are things which can't be done overnight, but it's now essential to get away from the "feed-in tariff" paradigm and start to think about green certificates. Grid parity for large-scale plants is now within reach."
Large-scale photovoltaic projects must break away from just being speculative ventures, and instead be used solely to meet energy needs. Against the background of grid parity, it is important to find suitable areas where large-scale plants can be built. It makes no sense to simply prohibit them. "We need to reach a stage where permissions are obtained within six months at most, green certificates are issued for 20 years and we are able to build ground-mounted plants in suitable areas. And this has got to be done quickly," underlined Angelo Prete. Paolo Ricci from TerniEnergia agreed. "We need to get customers with expertise in the sector, because at the moment we are still at a stage where the majority of investors are not capable of understanding the quality of a plant."
District heating is another of the challenges facing the solar industry. The discussion on the topic showed just how interesting and attractive solar thermal energy is to the utility companies. This is due to the fact that, particularly in the summer, the prices for solar thermal heating may be competitive with those of gas heating. Above all, its costs are certain, unlike the unpredictability of the gas market and its price regulations.
During the conference's closing session, some of the main photovoltaic players discussed the outlook for "Made in Europe" products, manufacturing in Italy, and the mechanisms that could be put in place to encourage and nurture this.
The contributions, if not always in agreement with one another, did show that, despite the "turbulent" conditions which currently prevail – owing to the uncertain regulatory framework and Chinese "dumping" – there are many things companies can, and must, do to ensure success. According to Alberto Giovanetti from MX Group, "The model that works is that of producing resources locally: small manufacturing facilities spread across the country creating a short industrial supply chain."
On incentives, Paolo Andrea Mutti from Solsonica said: "The fifth Conto Energia scheme will need to encourage integrated solutions, create jobs and stimulate growth in PV and associated sectors. This is because the goal for companies must be to provide customers with a single package which offers integrated solutions."
Innovation, whether in processes, business models, products or the industry, would seem to be the keyword. "But this won't be successful," said Mauro Curiale from 3Sun, "unless sufficient resources are found to invest in Research & Development."
Even if the times are difficult, all has not been said and done for the Italian solar industry just yet, was the conclusion of Riccardo Battisti of Ambiente Italia alongside Solarpraxis AG, co-organiser of the conference. "Solar energys strength lies in its security, both economically and in terms of supply. Against the background of an economic and financial scenario in which conventional energy costs and prices are constantly rising, the medium to long term future cannot be anything but bright," stated Battisti, succinctly summing up the CIS-IT 2012.
http://www.solarpraxis.de/en/conferences/cis-it-2012/general-information/
