Italian Exhibition Group’s Key Energy 2020 Digital Edition officially opened with the inaugural session entitled "Ecological conversion after the Covid-19 and new EU 2030 targets". A meeting focussed on the energy transition of the European Union as imagined by the Next Generation EU program and reflected in the targets for the reduction of emissions within 2030. The plan, which to a great extent overlaps the Recovery Fund, will contribute to supporting the countries hit by the pandemic and has an ample appendix dedicated to green action in the energy sector, as well as that of transport and urban regeneration with a sustainable smart slant.
At the opening of proceedings, Gianni Silvestrini, scientific director of KEY ENERGY, mentioned that, "in spite of occurring in a tragic period such as the present one, the opportunity to invest 77 billion euros for climatic questions is certainly unmissable. Our country must know how to put them to good use with projects and precise strategies." He continued, "Post-Covid effects on industry will make a large part of the fossil-based energy industry vanish, whereas that of the renewables, storage systems and sustainable mobility will undergo an extraordinary boom in coming years."
During the inaugural meeting, Vittorio Chiesa, director of Milan Polytechnic’s Energy Strategy Group, presented the report realized exclusively for Key Energy on the state of the art of renewables in Italy. He explained that to achieve the European target of a 55% reduction of climate changing emissions, it will be necessary to cut 94 million more tons of CO2.
Renewables. On the renewables front, the report emphasized that new power installed during 2019 was approximately 1.210 MW, about 50 MW more than that installed in 2018. A decidedly limited increase, mainly driven by the wind and photovoltaic sectors, above all in the last quarter of the year. The tendential scenario forecast for the wind source within 2030 would lead to a deviation from the target of 35 GW, a lower value than that which should be reached by 2025. In solar, on the other hand, installations should pick up again in 2021, but with a growth rate of the capacity installed substantially equal to that reported in 2019. If these conditions occurred, in 2030 there would be a gap of over 23 GW compared to the target. Chiesa stated, "It is therefore necessary to double the power for wind and almost triple that for photovoltaic."
Storage systems Another key element in the development of non-programmable energies such as renewables is definitely storage. The total power installed of electrochemical and pumped Storage Systems as of 2019 – says the survey – was 7,500 MW, and in 2030 it should reach the threshold of 17 930 MW.
Hydrogen. A valuable contribution to the reduction of climate changing emissions could come from large-scale adoption of hydrogen: in line with the international scenarios, in 2050 hydrogen will be able to play a significant role, to the point of reaching a potential penetration level of 23% of the final energy demand, with a contribution of over 200 TWh. Hydrogen will also be able to play a fundamental role in balancing the electricity system and provide support for balancing the grid.
Energy efficiency in buildings. At European level, heating and cooling account for 80% of energy consumption and of this approximately 66% is satisfied with the use of fossil fuels. In Europe there is an average annual renovation rate of 1%, a share of 0.2 is relative to deep renovation work that enables to reduce energy consumption to at least 60%. In order to achieve the emission reduction target it will be necessary to double the renovation rate of residential buildings and other types, and foresee a larger contribution of deep renovation work.
Electric mobility. In 2019 17,065 electric cars were registered (78% more than the previous year), of which 10,566 were electric-only (+111%) and 6,499 hybrid (+42%). In relative terms, this was 0.9% of total registrations (equal to approximately 2 million in 2019), with an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous year.
ENEA President Federico Testa explained that "having obtained the Super ecobonus and having it accepted by the Government as the main instrument for recovery was not easy, but the transfer of the credit is an even more important result. This instrument will certainly also have a good result for the various manufacturing and production chains, which will have confirmation of their value on the entire world market."
A European perspective on the issue of efficiency was provided by Monica Frassoni, president of the European Alliance to Save Energy. Frassoni said, "Italy is a very efficient country, but only as far as industry is concerned, not the buildings or transport. This is why we are only half-way through the job of ensuring a more aware consumption of energy.
For Alessandro Marangoni, CEO of Althesys, "The brake on investment in renewables is not the lack of funds, but the bureaucratic obstacles: it is therefore necessary to take action on permitting and speeding up the procedure by means of an overall reform, foreseeing fast-track authorizations for strategic works and greater resources for the public offices involved." "Enterprises believe and are investing", he added, "In fact, 57 requests were registered in 2019 for the construction of new installations. The sectors most involved are photovoltaic and wind (42% and 49%), followed by hydroelectric and biomass (4% each). Apulia is the leading region for number of requests, with 51% of the total."