ITALY

Since 1998 the Italian Government has reviewed its policies concerning renewable energies to the extent that wind power plants in particular are now favoured (conditional on suitable circumstances being established). As long ago as 1988 the National Energy Plan had set a wind-power target of 300 MW (600 MW if large machines should become commercially available) to be installed by 2000, and by end-1999 installed capacity had reached 232 MW. In the mid-1990’s nearly 700 MW of capacity had received preliminary agreements to be built, but these projects await construction.

In August 1999 the Government approved a white paper on the Exploitation of Renewable Energy Sources. It was drawn up by the National Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment (ENEA) and contained guidelines and measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It calculated that if an average of 200 MW new capacity could be brought on line each year for 10 years, then a total wind power capacity of some 2 500 MW by 2008-2012 could contribute to reducing emissions. It is expected that this rate can at least be attained for the years 2000 and 2001, encouraged by the payment of premium tariffs.

As part of new government legislation, the electricity industry is being restructured and from 2002 onwards, any operator who (in the previous year) has produced or imported more than 100 GWh of electricity generated from non-renewable sources, must feed into the grid at least 2% of that figure from new or re-powered renewables. In addition, a system of tradable "Green certificates", similar to that in the UK, is being introduced. Green certificates will be awarded by the Transmission System Operator for the output from renewable plants for a maximum of eight years. Plant owners are expected to gain income by selling these certificates to other companies bound by the 2% renewables quota.

During 1999, 183 wind turbines with a total capacity of 104 MW were installed at ten sites. Italian wind turbines are mostly located in the Apennines range of mountains in the south of the country. More than 80% of installed capacity is in the regions of Apulia and Campania. Research is also being conducted into the possibilities of offshore wind plants.

COUNTRY NOTES (WIND ENERGY)

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