May 10, 2024

Italy solar ban sends shockwaves through industry

Patrizio Donati, founder and managing director of independent power producer Terrawatt, said he was deeply disappointed by the move announced by the government earlier this week, adding his company’s 250 MW pipeline of photovoltaic projects could be in jeopardy.

The government's actions seemed to be moving in the right direction in terms of its energy transition before the sudden imposition of the ban, he added.

“Murky regulation”
“This is an already extremely complex sector to operate in… there are very murky layers of regulations at the local, regional and national level you need to navigate through,” said Donati.

“Adding more limitations is just going to stop the industry from moving forward.”

Investors were likely to be deterred from the sector due to the additional regulatory uncertainty caused by the ban, he said.

The cost of industrial land, where ground-mounted solar projects could now be limited to, was significantly higher than farmland, further complicating the economic viability of projects, added Donati.

“Usually, the price for industrial land over agricultural land is around twice or three times higher, but because of all these stirrings it’s now gone up to four to five times higher.”

Meanwhile, Italy’s largest power sector lobby group Elettricita Futura said the proposed law could crimp the country’s planned EUR 300bn investment needed to meet its 2030 green energy targets.

It warned of a domino effect where increased costs for new installations alongside regulatory and administrative burdens, would ultimately result in higher electricity bills for households and business.

“This decision would make the energy that costs the least, that produced by ground-mounted photovoltaics, more expensive,” Elettricita Futura said.

Solar energy and agriculture should not be “in opposition”, with the former potentially representing an “additional source of income for agricultural entrepreneurs to be allocated to investments in their core business”.

Contradictory move?
The announced measures seemingly contradict the government's commitment, made at the recent G7 summit on 30 April, to triple renewables from the current 66 GW by 2030, said the group.

That entailed reaching 198 GW within seven years and to achieve that, “less than 1% of agricultural land would be needed”.

Yesterday, energy minister Gilberto Pichetto said the ban would not impact the country’s green targets.

Source: www.montelnews.com