Italy
Table 9: Key renewable and biomass energy statistics, Italy
|
Electricity from biomass |
Heating and cooling from biomass |
% of total energy |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mtoe |
% of total electricity |
% of ren electricity |
Mtoe |
% of total heat/cool |
% of ren heat/cool |
Biomass |
All renewables |
|
|
2009 |
0.24 |
0.8% |
4.5% |
7.79 |
12.6% |
76.5% |
6.1% |
12.8% |
|
2016 |
0.35 |
1.3% |
3.7% |
7.12 |
12.8% |
67.6% |
6.2% |
17.4% |
|
Annual average growth |
5.5% |
-1.3% |
0.2% |
4.5% |
||||
|
2020 target |
17.0% |
|||||||
Source: Eurostat SHARES database, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/energy/data/shares.
Note: Biomass as percentage of total energy does not include solid biomass used for transport fuel (volumes are not yet significant).
Demand for woody biomass
Like France, Italy has chosen to encourage the use of biomass more for heat consumption than for electricity. In 2016, it had the fourth highest consumption of heat from biomass in the EU, though this has actually fallen slightly since 2009, along with total energy consumed as heating and cooling. Italy is on track to exceed its Renewable Energy Directive target of 17 per cent of energy from renewables by 2020; current projections suggest it will achieve almost 20 per cent.129
About a third of the country’s total consumption of electricity is generated from renewables, but less than 4 per cent of this is sourced from biomass; hydro accounts for the lion’s share – 42 per cent in 2016 – with solar and wind between them accounting for a further 35 per cent. The fastest rate of growth in the future is expected in wind and solar, though some further expansion of biomass is also projected (see Figure 18). The government’s National Energy Strategy published in 2013 projects the share of renewables to be 34–38 per cent of total electricity generation, and 19–20 per cent of gross final energy consumption, by 2020, and about 60–65 per cent of gross final energy consumption by 2050.130 It also contains the objective of reducing energy consumption through improving energy efficiency.
About 19 per cent of energy for heating and cooling was sourced from renewables in 2016; about two-thirds of this was from solid biomass. As set out in Italy’s National Renewable Energy Action Plan, and in the 2013 National Energy Strategy, the rate of growth of biomass for heat is expected to continue in the future, though there are no specific targets (see Figure 19).131
Figure 18: Italy’s gross production of electricity from renewable sources, 2010–20
— Source: European Commission (2012), ‘National Renewable Energy Action Plan: Italy’, https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/renewable-energy/national-action-plans (accessed 15 Aug. 2016).
Figure 18: Italy’s gross production of electricity from renewable sources, 2010–20
Figure 19: Italy’s gross production of heat from renewable sources, 2010–20132
— Source: European Commission (2012), ‘National Renewable Energy Action Plan: Italy’, https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/renewable-energy/national-action-plans (accessed 15 Aug. 2016).
Figure 19: Italy’s gross production of heat from renewable sources, 2010–20132
Biomass supply
Like other countries, the main source of Italy’s use of biomass for energy is wood, particularly wood fuel, which supplies the majority of biomass used for heat in the residential sector, mostly in individual stoves and fireplaces.133 Locally sourced wood chips are also used in residential heating units, though they are more commonly used in CHP plants and district heating, particularly in the smaller systems. Wood pellets are increasingly used for commercial and residential space heating.
Although Italy has a thriving wood furniture industry – third largest in the world in 2013, after China and the US – it is not a significant producer of roundwood from its own forests.134 Accordingly, it is a major importer of wood, including pellets and wood fuel for energy use. In 2016, the country imported about 1.7 million tonnes of wood pellets, making it the EU’s third largest pellet importer after the UK and Denmark. As shown in Figure 20, wood pellet imports, mostly from within the EU (Austria is the largest single supplier), increased rapidly between 2010 and 2014, but, excluding a steep decline in imports from North America during 2015, have changed little overall since then. Imports of wood fuel are very high compared to other EU member states; the main sources are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, with significant imports also from Ukraine, Slovenia and Spain.
Figure 20: Italy’s imports of woody biomass potentially for energy, 2010–16
— Source: Generated from Eurostat data at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/newxtweb/mainxtnet.do.
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
Figure 20: Italy’s imports of woody biomass potentially for energy, 2010–16
Note: Wood chips and residues are not only used for energy generation.
There is also considerable domestic production of wood pellets, reaching approximately 400,000 tonnes in 2016.135 Substantial quantities of wood chips and residues are also imported, but in declining quantity and not necessarily to be burnt for energy. Exports of all these forms of wood are negligible.
Italy’s National Renewable Energy Action Plan included an expectation of increased competition for land use in the future between the food, energy, wood products and transport sectors.136 The government is consequently aiming to develop its domestic supply of biomass energy feedstock, mainly from agricultural residues and related by-products; significant growth is expected from crop and livestock farming, and the agro-industry sector. Increased wood extraction from domestic forests for energy purposes is not anticipated.
Support for biomass energy
Italy has provided support for the development of biomass energy, alongside other forms of renewables, through a number of policy frameworks, including a tradable renewable energy certificate scheme (‘green certificates’), feed-in tariffs, the Heat Account incentive, tax deductions and loans. These systems have proved highly effective in supporting renewable energy but, as a result, have led to concerns over their costs, and they have been scaled back in recent years. For biomass, policy and financial support has been focused more on heat than on power.
Italy’s systems have proved highly effective in supporting renewable energy but, as a result, have led to concerns over their costs, and they have been scaled back in recent years.
The tradable green certificate scheme, which operated between 1999 and late 2012, required producers and importers of non-renewable electricity to inject a minimum quota of renewable electricity into the grid every year.137 Eligible technologies received a different number of certificates per amount of electricity generated, depending on their cost, with the aim of avoiding excessive subsidies to the cheaper technologies. After the overall quota was met in every year since 2006, the system was ended in 2012.
Small-scale renewables, including biomass, for plants with a capacity below 1 MW, are supported through an all-inclusive feed-in-tariff scheme (‘Tariffa Onnicomprensiva’).138 Electricity generated from biomass, based on forest and agricultural by-products and waste, is eligible to receive €180–€257 per MWh, depending on the size of the plant, for 15 years. Larger renewable plants, with a capacity above 5 MW, are eligible for a tendering mechanism featuring base tariffs for different renewable sources: bidders offer prices (percentage reductions of the base tariffs) and receive this premium in case of a successful tender.139
In the heating sector, biomass energy is mainly supported through the Heat Account (‘Conto Termico’), introduced in 2013, which provides financial support for the construction of renewable heating systems and energy efficiency improvements in existing private and public buildings.140 This incentive, which has an annual budget of €900 million (financed through a levy on gas-fired energy) provides support for between two and five years, and is calculated based on the technology type, size of the project (capacity), particulate matter emissions, and the specific climate zone.141 For example, the installation of a low-emission biomass boiler with a capacity of 35 kW would receive up to €4,250 per year, depending on the climate zone, for a maximum of two years. A similar heating system installed in an agricultural greenhouse would receive half of that, but for up to a maximum of five years. The majority of biomass projects that have received financial support under the Heat Account are small pellet-based heating systems.
Individuals or businesses upgrading to biomass heating systems are also eligible to receive a personal or corporate tax deduction of 55 per cent spread across 10 years for expenditure incurred as a result of the upgrade.142
In addition to these systems, the Kyoto Revolving Fund, which operated between 2012 and 2016 (when its budget was exhausted), provided loans of up to €1 million, with a yearly nominal interest rate of 0.5 per cent, for upgrading larger-scale renewable energy facilities, including biomass-fuelled thermal plants with a capacity over 5 MW.143 Italy’s system of tradable energy efficiency certificates (‘white certificates’) has also provided support for CHP installations, including biomass plants, alongside other energy efficiency investments. Energy taxes are relatively low, but renewables, including biomass, are exempt.
Sustainability criteria
In 2016, the government issued a decree defining the types of biomass and biogas feedstocks to which feed-in tariffs are restricted.144 The decree includes agricultural and livestock wastes and residues, and by-products from forest management and from the processing of forest products. Roundwood is not included.
129 European Commission (2012), ‘National Renewable Energy Action Plan: Italy’, https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/renewable-energy/national-action-plans (accessed 15 Aug. 2016).
130 Ministry of Economic Development (2013), Italy’s National Energy Strategy, http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/images/stories/documenti/SEN_EN_marzo2013.pdf (accessed 15 Aug. 2016); Eurobserv’ER (2017), Renewable Energy Policy Factsheet: Italy, https://www.eurobserv-er.org/pdf/renewable-energy-policy-factsheet-2017-italy/ (accessed 31 Jan. 2018).
131 Deloitte Conseil (2015), European energy market reform, Country profile: Italy, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Energy-and-Resources/gx-er-market-reform-italy.pdf (accessed 15 Aug. 2016).
132 European Commission (2012), ‘National Renewable Energy Action Plan: Italy’.
133 Cocchi, M. (2012), IEA Bioenergy Task 40, Country Profile: Italy, http://www.bioenergytrade.org/downloads/iea-task-40-country-report-2011-italy.pdf (accessed 15 Aug. 2016).
134 UNECE and UNFAO (2013), Forest Products Annual Market Review 2012–2013, https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/timber/publications/FPAMR2013.pdf (accessed 16 Aug. 2016).
135 FAOSTAT data at http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FO.
136 European Commission (2012), ‘National Renewable Energy Action Plan: Italy’.
137 International Energy Agency (2016), Energy Policies of IEA Countries: Italy, 2016 Review, https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/EnergiePoliciesofIEACountriesItaly2016Review.pdf (accessed 31 Jan. 2018).
138 Eurobserv’ER (2015), Country policy profile: Italy, https://www.eurobserv-er.org/pdf/res-policy/EurObservER-RES-Policy-Report-Country-Profile-2015-12-Italy.pdf (accessed15 Aug. 2016); European Commission (2012), ‘National Renewable Energy Action Plan: Italy’.
139 Eurobserv’ER (2017), Renewable Energy Policy Factsheet: Italy.
140 Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (2016), ‘Heating and cooling’, http://www.gse.it/en/Heating_Cooling/Pages/default.aspx (accessed 17 Aug. 2016).
141 Governo Italiano, Ministero dello sviluppo economico (2016), ‘Decreto interministeriale 16 febbraio 2016’, http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/images/stories/normativa/decreto_interministeriale_16_febbraio_2016_aggiornamento_conto_termico.pdf (accessed 11 May 2018).
142 Government of Italy (2013), Italy’s Second Progress Report under Directive 2009/28/EC, Rome: Government of Italy, http://www.eurobserv-er.org/pdf/res-policy/EurObservER-RES-Policy-Report-Article-22-Italy-report-EN.pdf (accessed 15 Aug. 2016).
143 RES Legal (2016), ‘Loan (Fondo Kyoto)’, http://www.res-legal.eu/search-by-country/italy/single/s/res-hc/t/promotion/aid/loan-fondo-kyoto/lastp/151/ (accessed 16 Aug. 2016).
144 Ministry of Economic Development (2016), Decree of 23 June 2016: ‘Incentives for electricity produced from renewable sources other than photovoltaics’, http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2016/06/29/16A04832/sg (accessed 31 Jan. 2018).