The Italian PV industry expressed concerns about new regulatory measures and budget cuts when Gestore dei servizi Energeci (GSE) published the results of the FER
The Italian PV sector is in a period of transition as it faces regulatory changes and needs new investments to strengthen the production system and supply chain in response to the opportunities under the Net Zero Industry Act, the European Union’s strategy to strengthen industrial competitiveness for decarbonization. This was the main message of the tenth forum of Italia Solare, Italy’s leading PV association, held this week in Rome.
Italia Solare noted regulatory changes following the government’s publication of two legal decrees affecting agriculture, eligible areas and authorization processes for new photovoltaic projects. Developers told pv magazine Italy that, given the changes implemented in the last two weeks, almost only agricultural voltaic projects will be viable. These projects still require environmental permits, which will increase 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 association’s tenth annual forum chaired by Paolo Rocco Viscontini.
Brumgnach points out that each configuration has an average of 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 to €795.5 million.
Brumgnach expressed the dissatisfaction of Italia Solare members over the cuts and a series of ‘communication errors’. Nevertheless, the vice president of Italia Solare estimated investments in RECs at 3.64 trillion euros and more than 58,000 applications.
The sides also discussed the relationship between Italy and China, arguing that the Italian production system should cooperate with China. This was also stated by Stefano Lorenzi, CEO of 3SUN. It was echoed by all Italian professional associations, including Italia Solare.
The associations are also calling for Opex support for Italian factories considered essential for the photovoltaic industry, including manufacturers of inverters, batteries and panels, and possibly cells.
During the conference, the Italian energy agency GSE published the results of the largest first solar auction under Italy’s new renewable energy incentive program, the “transitional” FER
For PV, the auction closed with an average awarded price of €0.05682/kWh, which is 37.34% below the ceiling price set by the 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, things are starting to get busy in the southern region, and in particular Sicily, but Elemens points out that the “conservative” target could be adjusted upwards.
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