Linea Trovata Group - Smart sustainable energy solutions

Our Group's marketing team is always good for a surprise. New year 2011 starts with a new corporate movie showing from helicopter-view several renewable energy installations realized by Linea Trovata Group in Belgium, the Netherlands, in France and Italy. We wish you a pleasant flight. Enjoy!

PV Legal Framework Italy

Who is active in renewable energy business knows, that legal-administrative barriers are among the main obstacles in several European countries impeding a quicker PV technology deployment. Although many countries have already implemented favourable PV support policies, when it comes to constructing PV projects, bureaucracy and highly complex procedures and requirements (i.e. notification, registration, licensing, environmental impact assessment, etc.) hamper installation processes significantly. As a result, the development and the sustainable establishment of solar markets in many European countries is unnecessarily delayed.

This Blog always tries to inform about the latest legal frameworks, national and regional laws in Italy. We would like to introduce the PV LEGAL project, an initiative co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Commission. The overall goal of the PV LEGAL Project is to overcome such legal-administrative barriers during planning and installation processes (including grid connection) of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The project consortium aims at improving the framework conditions for PV in Europe and to allow for faster and more efficient market development in the various countries. In this context the project website offers a free and comprehensive online database, gathering detailed quantitative and qualitative data on project development processes and bureaucratic barriers hampering the set-up of photovoltaic (PV) systems, in 12 EU countries, also in Italy.

Screenshot PV LEGAL 

This is the Status as of July 2010,
as you can find published on PV LEGAL consortium Website: 

In Italy, the need for a simplification and harmonization of the legal-administrative framework in the PV sector is widely recognized as a priority.  Actions are being taken at different levels.

• The National Guidelines for the Autorizzazione Unica the centralized procedure for the authorization of PV Systems), foreseen by DLgs. 387/2003 and left aside for many years, have been readmitted to the political agenda. The document has been adopted the 8th of July 2010 by the State – Regions Unified Conference and will enter into force after publication in the OJ. Regions will have to adapt their frameworks to comply with the National guidelines within 90 days. The Autorizzazione Unica is one of the main bottlenecks for the PV sector in Italy and the lack of clear procedures defined at National level allowed for the proliferation of regional norms. The Guidelines are a significant step forward towards the simplification and harmonization of the authorization process in Italy.

• A Regulation (now being examined by the Parliament) will simplify the bureaucracy currently necessary to get the landscape authorization. This will imply important simplifications for the installation of PV systems when landscape restrictions are present and Superintendencies are involved. The regulation might sensibly reduce waiting times from more than 100 to 60 days to get the necessary permissions for a number of interventions judged to be of “minor entity”.

• Modifications to the Legislative Decree 152/2006 (environment) have been adopted on June 24, 2010. The decree modifies, among others, the part II of the DLgs 152/2006 concerning the Environmental Impact Assessment (VIA) with the aim of simplifying the procedures and combining the public interest for the preservation of the environment with that of economic development.

• Plans for the development of the transmission grid extension and capacity are ongoing. The development plan (see TERNA –Piano di Sviluppo 2010) addresses the implementation of the development of the necessary grid infrastructures, gives an overview of the status and time for completion of works. Particular attention is given to the infrastructural development of the southern Regions. TERNA is the Italian company operating  the Italian high-voltage transmission grid.

• With regard to the low and medium voltage a convention between Enel and the Ministry of Economic Development was signed in February 2010 in order to adapt  the distribution grid to the use of electricity produced by PV systems (up to 1 MWp) and develop smart grid solutions in Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily (structural funds).

• Speculation on the grid connection permits and the “reservation” of the grid capacity has proved to be a problem particularly in some Regions, especially in Puglia. The Italian Authority for Electricity and Gas (AEEG) has acknowledged the issue in its “Relazione dell’Autorità per l’Energia Elettrica e il Gas sullo stato di utilizzo ed integrazione degli impianti alimentati da fonti rinnovabili”, (PAS 3/10 of January 29, 2010). AEEG has subsequently issued a consultation document (Documento di consultazione DCO 15/10) to address the problem of speculation by introducing some specific provisions in the regulation governing the procedures, costs and timing for the connection of RES systems to the grid (Unified Text for Active Connections - TICA).

• Some improvements are being introduced in the direction of a better and easier access to the FiT. The Deliberation of the Authority (AEEG) ARG/elt 173/09 gives the GSE (in charge of managing the electricity services) responsibility to introduce on-line procedures in order to simplify the information and document exchange between producers and GSE for the access to the incentives.  A new procedure for the formalization and subscription of the contract of the FiT Conto Energia has been introduced as of January 2010.

• AEEG started support activities to grant funding to pilot projects aimed at developing smart grid solutions (Deliberation Arg/elt 39/10 of 25 march 2010).

• Following the indications of another deliberation of the AEEG (ARG-elt 93/09), the GSE has defined aprocedure to improve the predictability of the production from variable and intermittent renewable sources.

Status as of April 2010

The National Guidelines for the Autorizzazione Unica (the one stop shop procedure for the authorization of PV Systems), foreseen by law and left aside for many years, have been readmitted to the political agenda after the issue was raised by Assosolare in the framework of the PV LEGAL project. A draft is now waiting to be discussed by the State – Regions Unified Conference and should be approved in 2010. The Autorizzazione Unica is one of the main bottlenecks for the PV sector in Italy.

A new regulation (now being examined by the Parliament) will simplify the bureaucratic procedure currently necessary to obtain the landscape authorization for PV systems having a “minor impact” on the buildings.  The regulation might reduce waiting times from more than 100 days to 60 days in those cases where landscape restrictions are present and Sopraintendenze (Ministerial offices at local level in charge of controlling that the heritage, landscape and architectural qualities of the territory are preserved correctly and responsible for the issuing of permissions) are involved. Also the administrative burden for the offices involved will be significantly reduced.

Some improvements are also being introduced in the direction of a better and easier access to the feed in tariffs. The energy regulatory authority AEEG has given the Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE, institution in charge of managing the energetic services and the feed-in tariffs) responsibility to introduce on-line procedures in order to simplify the information and document exchange between producers and GSE for the access to the incentives.  A new procedure has been introduced as of January 2010. 

Source: Copyright © PV Legal Consortium - All rights reserved
http://www.pvlegal.eu/results/progresses/italy.html

Ministry of Economic Development finally approves new Italian feed-in tariff "Conto Energia" and regional authorization guidelines

Sometimes it is worth waiting and finally a long wait comes to an end: On the 9th of July 2010, the Italian ministry of economic development officially announced the approval of the new PV feed-in tariffs and of regional guidelines for renewable power plants. Starting 2011, the third "Conto Energia" will gradually reduce the tariffs (18% to 20% in three reduction steps for the year 2011 as illustrated below and for 2012 and 2013 another 6% per annum), reducing the impact on the consumer's electric bills. The national guidelines give general rules about the approval procedure for building and operating power plants driven by renewable energies in order to coordinate the sector and grant a similar development in all Italian regions.

Source: Italian ministry of Economic Development, translation and summary: PHOTON (all rights reserved)

Other Sources and where to read more about this topic:

edilportale.com | Articles 1, 2, 3 | Authors: Rossella Calabrese et al. (all rights reserved);
APER | http://www.aper.it/newsite/images/stories/cstampa/2010/com_stampa_16-2010_l.g%20e%20c.pdf (all rights reserved).

The complete press release of  Italian ministry of Economic Development can be viewed using the following links:

http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/pdf_upload/comunicati/phpcL4ra7.pdf

http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/pdf_upload/documenti/lineeguidaenergia/lineeguidaenergia.pdf

PV incentives in Italy — Italian government to discuss new incentives for solar energy on July 8th

According to a recent press release by Italian Government and photon-international.com on the 8th of July 2010, the central and regional governments in Italy will discuss, among other things, future incentives for solar energy. After the first two incentive programs, named respectively “Conto Energia” and “Nuovo Conto Energia”, the future “Conto Energia” is expected to be designed. As reported before on this Blog there circulated already several drafts for such new PV incentives regime to be expected for the next three years in Italy.

Sources: Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Translation and summary: PHOTON (all rights reserved)

The complete press release can be viewed in PHOTON's archive using the following link:

http://www.photon-international.com/newsletter/document/27453.pdf

Simplified DIA Authorization Procedure sufficient for Renewable Energy Projects in Italy up to 1 MW

This Blog recently reported about Italian Constitutional Court’s decisions no. 119/10 and no. 124/10, declaring illegitimate the regional laws of Apulia and Calabria respectively (see previous Blog-Post on 10 April 2010). Main reason for such lawsuit and Constitutional Court’s decisions was, that both regional laws had unilaterally allowed for the authorisation of 1 MW or 500 KW projects by means of a simple “start of works” declaration (dichiarazione di inizio attività or in short “DIA”), contradicting federal law (Decreto Legislativo or Dlgs) no. 387/2003, which foresees and requires a lengthy autorizzazione unica procedure (in short “AU”) for much smaller projects (e.g. photovoltaic projects above 20 KW or wind energy projects above 60 KW).

Now, only a few weeks after and maybe as a reaction to the aforementioned Constitutional Court’s verdicts, which not only have caused significant uncertainty in the market as to the validity and risks of previously authorized DIA renewable energy projects (mainly solar pv plants) in Apulia and Calabria, but also were widely perceived by investors and renewable energy industry as a political obstacle to the expedited development and financing of renewable energy plants in Italy, it comes to a sudden and unexpected turn of events. Italian Government decided to enact a new national law in compliance to European Community Law and EU guidelines.

The Italian Chamber of Deputies has taken the above mentioned market concerns seriously and reacted accordingly by proposing on a federal level what the Apulia and Calabria regions had in the past attempted to achieve independently without the necessary federal backing. Indeed, on 23 April 2010 the Chamber of Deputies proposed an amendment to the latest draft of Italy’s so-called “Community Law 2009” (ddl Comunitaria 2009), the yearly framework law delegating the Government to enact by decree the rules necessary to comply with the mandatory provisions of European Community Law. In particular, the Chamber of Deputies proposed that, when implementing Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of renewable energy sources, the Government should provide that renewable energy projects with a peak capacity of up to 1 MW be authorised through a simplified “DIA”.

On 12 May 2010 the proposed amendment was approved by the Italian Senate (Art. 17 ddl n. 1781-B), which now means that it now will soon become law and therefore the Italian Government must enact the necessary provisions by legislative decree within the same deadline as for transposing the entire Directive 2009/28/EC into national law, i.e. 5 December 2010. In such new law (Dlgs) renewable energy projects of up to 1 MW will be subject to the simplified DIA procedure.

Latest developments and recent Italian Government reactions can be interpreted as a clear sign, that Italy is willed to finally end legal uncertainty and discussions due to regional normative chaos and to create a stable legal foundation on a national level in order to further promote renewable energy investments. Simplifying authorization procedures is definitely one first good step to reestablish market stability and investor's trust and to prepare the stage for future growth in Italy. Next decisive step should be the overdue regulation of the new incentive regime (Conto Energia) for the next three year period 2011-2013, expected to be officially announced within 30 June 2010 by GSE under the auspices of Italian Government (Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Environment).

Sources and where to read more about this topic:

edilportale.com | Articles 1, 2 | Author: Paola Mammarella (all rights reserved);
McDermott Will & Emery | Author: Carsten Steinhauer (all rights reserved);
projectfinancemagazine.com (all rights reserved).


Photo via picApp | Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Content © 2010 Getty Images | All rights reserved.

Italian Institutional court claims Apulia Regional Law n. 31/2008 — DIA Authorization of PV Projects up to 1MW declared as unconstitutional

Maybe it was the ease of developing renewable energy projects due to administrative and bureaucratic simplifications in Apulia under the provisions of Apulia Regional Law 31/2008 introduced by green energy friendly Nichi Vendola, president of Apulia region, that has been a big thorn in the sides of many other regions.
However on 29 December 2008, the Italian Government filed a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court for the declaration of unconstitutionality of Apulia Regional Law 31/2008. A first public hearing on this matter took place on 26 January 2010 and resulted now in a final verdict published on 31 March 2010. The  Constitutional Court specified the illegitimacy of two paragraphs of Art. 3 (Paragraphs §1 and §2) of Apulia Regional Law 31/2008, pursuant to which renewable energy plants with an output of up to 1MW could so far be authorised through a simplified “start-of works” declaration (DIA – Dichiarazione inizio attività).

Hence the court decision now implies with immediate effect, that ground-mounted PV projects above 20kW located in the Puglia region can no longer be authorized by a simple DIA procedure, but require an Autorizzazione Unica (AU – conferenza unificata), like originally foreseen in national decreto legislativo n. 387 (Attuazione della direttiva 2001/77/CE relativa alla promozione dell’energia elettrica prodotta da fonti energetiche rinnovabili nel mercato interno dell’elettricità) issued on 29 December 2003. More importantly on the other hand the court decision can not retroactively affect PV projects which had been fully permitted through the DIA procedure before the verdict. Already permitted projects should therefore remain valid and unaffected. Only in case these authorizations would be legally challenged within the legal period for objection, then the Constitutional Court’s decision could have sort of a retroactive effect.
In any case, Apulia government will now have to react properly and will have to introduce a new regional law in order to strike a fair balance between the interests of all parties involved. The legitimate reliance of the developer on the validity of the regional laws as they were in force during the authorisation process will have an important impact, as well as the investments already made in the project. However the current ruling only applies to the authorizations approved under the regional law n. 31/2008 and hence has no direct impact on the previous Regional Law n. 1/2008 whose article 27 already allowed for the authorization of 1MW PV projects by means of a simple DIA.

Sole Vento Alberi - Presa Diretta 07-03-10 on RAI Tre

Renewable Energy on italian TV, seen Sunday 07th of March 2010, 21.30 on
RAI TRE "Presa Diretta"(rai.tv click here), Title "Sole Vento Alberi" by Riccardo Iacona:



part1; part2; part3; part4; part5; part6; part7; part8; part9.

[Copyrights and all rights reserved RAI Tre and Riccardo Iacona "Presa Diretta"]

Future of Italy's PV industry in Government hands

According to a recent study of I-com research institute, the possible impact and contribution of Solar PV Industry on Italian Market would be quantifiable in Italy by an esteemed 22 billion in value added for the Italian economy, 45 thousand jobs for the next twenty years and 6 million tonnes less CO2.

Nevertheless, Italy's photovoltaic sector, in comparison to other markets, is still far behind in development. In 2009 Italy almost doubled installed capacity compared to previous years and Italy since year end 2009 approached the level of 1000 MW installed (760,4 MW within nuovo conto energia), but compared to other countries like Germany or Japan, such levels were already surpassed six years ago, back in 2004.

Italian Solar PV Industry in terms of employment and economic value added is already bearing its first fruits. Now, in coming weeks, it us up to the Italian government to finally decide on the new incentive regime of PV to follow 2010 in order to consolidate the development of an area that could contribute significantly to the competitiveness of Italy.


Sources: Energia-blog | Authors:  9Colonne, I-com research institute.

Technological trends (BIPV) from SAIEnergia 09

Italy slowly discovers Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), building integration of PV solar power systems, and thus Photovoltaic modules that are integrated directly into a roof's surface to provide more aesthetic appeal.


Here are the best italian solutions and products for perfect integration of solar power systems into the roof of a building seen at SAIEnergia 09 in Bologna:

Tegolasolare: Traditional hand-crafted clay roof ceramic tile with a small, modular, discreet photovoltaic panel (4 cells) integrated and fitted on the front (see picture above).

Tech-tile: Techtile System can generate both electricity (Techtile Energy) or heat (Techtile Therm). It permits maximum integration with the building because the Techtile roof tile looks exactly the same as a conventional tile.

System Photonics: The ROOF collection replaces or becomes a part of traditional roof coverings (shingle roofing or cascade tiling), while maintaining and improving their insulation and protective properties.


Read more about this topic at:
pienosole.it;
design.tv.it;
solarserver.de.

Germany — unchallenged european market leader in the field of solar energy

In 2008 only in Germany photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 1650 MWp were newly installed. The addition of a nationwide solar year roughly corresponds to the performance of two conventional coal-fired power plants and overall, through the use of photovoltaic installations, by 2008 Germany was able to save 8,530,671 tons of CO2.

Given these figures, and a business turnover of 9.5 billion euros, the year 2008 marked the most successful year of German Photovoltaic industry. Besides its strong domestic market, Germany also benefits from a strong export economy and growing global markets for alternative Energy.

Solar Evolution — The beginning of a new era for solar power

"A new era for solar power is approaching. Long derided as uneconomic, it is gaining ground as technologies improve and the cost of traditional energy sources rises.Within three to seven years, unsubsidized solar power could cost no more to end customers in many markets, such as California and Italy, than electricity generated by fossil fuels or by renewable alternatives to solar. By 2020, global installed solar capacity could be 20 to 40 times its level today."

McKinsey & Company | Authors: Peter Lorenz, Dickon Pinner, and Thomas Seitz

Source: Climate Change Special Initiative and McKinsey Quarterly

Forecast — The growing competitiveness of solar power: McKinsey forecasts grid parity within the next three to seven years. This means that solar energy's unsubsidized cost to end users will approach the cost of conventional electricity in a number of markets, including parts of the United States (California and the Southwest), as well as Italy, Japan and Spain.

Outlook — The global solar market in 2020: According to McKinsey, the worldwide installed global solar capacity will grow by roughly 30 to 35 percent a year, from 10 gigawatts today to about 200 gigawatts in 2020.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLES:

McKinsey Quarterly — The economics of solar power (LINK);
McKinsey Quarterly — Evaluating the potential of solar technologies (LINK1, 2).

Endless potential of the sun

"The total power needs of the humans on Earth is approximately 16 terawatts. In the year 2020 it is expected to grow to 20 terawatts. (Ed. A terawatt is a trillion watts.)

The sunshine on the solid part of the Earth is 120,000 terawatts. From this perspective, energy from the sun is virtually unlimited."

Eicke Weber, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems,

in Freiburg (Germany)

Source: National Geographic Magazine | Author: George Johnson

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLES:

National Geographic — Plugging Into the Sun (LINK)

National Geographic — Ranking Renewables (LINK)

National Geographic — Renewable Futures (LINK)

Americans invade Apulia

Texas-based JMJ Holdings is close to purchase the AS Bari football club from the Matarrese family. JMJ president and CEO Tim Barton has already signed an exclusive agreement to buy the team pending due diligence over the next 30 days.

The takeover of AS Bari marks only the beginning of JMJ's italian venture. Barton said he first heard the team was for sale when he was in southern Italy on a business trip to develop environmentally friendly energy investments a few months ago.

JMJ Holdings, founded in 1990 by CEO Tim Barton, is a real estate firm engaged in the acquisition, development, management and advisement of luxury real estate assets on a global basis. Since renewable energy offers high returns, like many other international real estate firms and investment funds, JMJ is on the search for green energy projects and investment opportunities.

Barton mainly focuses on photovoltaics in Apulia. He sees "photovoltaic installations on every rooftop in the city of Bari."

Conclusion: International financial crisis has not only slown down project developments in Italy but also brought harsh market conditions to solar industry. Thus we definitely need more courageous entrepreneurs like Barton, equipped with visions and the necessary capital.

TERNA to invest in photvoltaics

Italian high-voltage grid operator TERNA S.p.A. plans to develop and construct small sized photovoltaic plants, in the areas of the substations owned by Terna, that are currently free and available. For this purpose the company has founded a subsidiary named Sungrid S.p.A. (“Sungrid”), to undertake building and management activity. According to "pienosole.it" the sum of all these small sized solar PV installations could equal a cumulative capacity of 100 MW. The company has announced in a press release, that a European tender will shortly be published for the selection of suppliers. The company structure, that could eventually be sold to third parties, meets both the operating and economic unbundling requirements from the parent company, and is compliant with TERNA S.p.A’s concession and By-laws, as well as with the terms envisaged by Legislative Decree 79/99 (known as the “Bersani Decree”). Also, in order to improve the management of dispatching activity from non programmable renewable sources, and in agreement with the Authority, Terna has initiated a study to identify the opportunity for developing pumping basins and for technologies for energy accumulation in central and southern Italy.

Autostrada del Sole – Multifunctional Carports and house top solar PV installations on petrol and service stations

Good ideas are only those that are implemented and finally turn into reality. I am sure many visionaries had similar ideas along those lines, but sometimes even sleeping giants seem to wake and pick up those ideas, concepts and start sustainable initiatives.

Autostrade per l'Italia Spa plans to invest, install and operate a network of many small size PV integrated carports and house top solar PV installations on petrol and service stations. Along the 2854 Km of motorway managed by Autostrade per l'Italia Spa, there are round about 3000 parking sites, gas stations, roadhouses and service areas with parking possibilities. According to "pienosole.it" the sum of all small solar PV installations could equal a cumulative global PV installations capacity of approximately 5,5 GWh/year and could supply all motorway facilities with clean solar energy.

Conclusion:

"Every little helps" since many small size solar PV installations in the end form one large-scale power plant and sometimes great ideas can only be implemented by great corporations right at the source.

Market-sector leader plans to conquer PV consumer-market

German cell-producer and market-sector leader has kicked off a massive b2c marketing campaign and pushes into photovoltaic consumer market. I found out by pure chance as in the evening I was watching German's second programme ZDF and suddenly during a commercial break of "Markus Lanz" this ad (click title or here to watch) caught my attention. Later I read a press notice on the company website. Part of this Marketing offensive is the Website www.werden-sie-stromerzeuger.de. I dare say that this is not a bad business idea at all and definitely a trend. In Italy ENEL follows a similar idea with ENEL.si. Both concepts and programmes prove high market potentials of photovoltaic in the private consumer sector.

What costs the sun? | Was kostet die Sonne?

Deutschland zählt im Bereich der Solartechnik zur Weltspitze, es sind Tausende neue Jobs entstanden und deutsche Wissenschaftler machen mit ständig neuen Weltrekorden bei den Wirkungsgraden von sich reden. Stehen wir vor dem Durchbruch in eine solare Zukunft?

Watch a stream of yesterdays german telecast by clicking here!

Copyrights: Jörg Moll Fernsehproduktion

All rights ZDF/3sat.

How It's Made — photovoltaic cells and solar modules

Discovery channel "How it's made"

24Hours Q-Cells corporate video

Monthly review

22.05.

RAI TG1 Economia "energia rinnovabile";

16.06.

German corporations plan to invest in mega desert solar power plants (click 1 and 2);

22.06.

Accident: 5 MW BP-Solar roof pv plant catches fire;

23.06.

TERNA 500m network expansion plans;

30.06.

Longest, but at the same time very enjoyable, business meeting in Torremaggiore (FG);

01.07.

Nice to be back in Munich;

02.07.

Nano Technologies — Certainly the next big thing (check it out: 1, 2, 3, 4);

03.07.

Crisis prevention in Eggenfelden;

04.07.

RAI 2 Voyager — energia (part 1, part 2);

04.07.

Climate scientist Mojib Latif "only the sun can save our world";

05.07.

Sunday rainy blues, so I watched Wimbledon finals and Zeitgeist Addendum;

07.07.

European Renewable Grid Initiative Launched;

07.07.

E.ON continues expansion in photovoltaics and acquires French PV developer;

07.07.

Bye MJ, R.I.P. We are the world!

Bureaucracy slows down Project development of Photovoltaics in Italy, but according to GSE by end of 2009 Italy could reach 900 MW

In the first four month of 2009, an overall of 8.000 new plants (82,6 MW) were connected to the grid; which equals a media of 3,4 MW per week, contra 6,5 MW per week reached in 2008. Thus compared to the year 2008 PV project development has slown down a little. This trend maybe caused by several circumstances: a worldwide recession, financial crisis and last but not least by italian bureaucracy with its non-uniform and protracted authorization procedures.

Nevertheless by end of april 2009 a total of 39.753 PV plants were installed and operational. This equates to more than 500 MW, of which Lombardia reaching 49 MW by the end of 2008 and Puglia with 51,6 MW represent Italy's leading solar regions.

More importantly GSE expects market improvements and italian renewable markets to gain momentum. According to GSE Italy could break the 900 MW barrier by end of 2009. We will definitely contribute our part!

[Sources: http://www.energia24club.it; http://www.pienosole.it]