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!

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

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.

100% renewable energy by 2050 is a feasible objective

According to an article published on PV-tech.org, a recent McKinsey feasibility study with the intention to determine if electricity from 100% renewable resources was possible, has observed that by the year 2050, such goal not only is feasible, but that countries like Germany are already leading the way to making it possible. The study report, published by the European Climate Foundation was commissioned to examine the possibility of the EU achieving 80% greenhouse gas reduction by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Furthermore the study concluded that along with renewable energy being 100% feasible, it was also a reliable and economically sound energy decision. Renewable energy industries record strong growth, generate many jobs, hence represent emerging markets in times of global economic crisis.

As reported October last year, Germany currently has one of the biggest renewable energy markets in the world and represents European Lead-Market in Solar PV. Only in the year 2009 Germany had an incredible 16.1% increase in the total share of electricity from renewable resources. Beginning of the new year 2010, Germany also saw its solar PV installations surpass the 3.8GW benchmark, making it responsible for more than half of the world’s solar market. Considering that at present only 2% of Germany’s suitable rooftops are covered with PV systems, the country has plenty of opportunity to expand its international lead in the solar renewable energy market and to further proof, that a clean energy future is a convertible dream.

Sources: PV-tech.org | Author:  Syanne Olson (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"]

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.

Is the German Renewable Energy Industry in Jeopardy after the election?

"Germany's newly elected government could hinder the expansion of renewable energy in the country with its plans to extend the lifetime of nuclear reactors, warns the German Renewable Energy Federation (Source: Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energie - BEE)."

Like BEE spokesman Daniel Kluge, many other experts of renewable energy industry worry that renewable energy upstarts could be the ones bumped aside by the new government. The main issues to be disputed will be the tariffs for wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. Is the feed-in tariff for solar, which many argue is too high, in jeopardy or is Germany now heading in the right policy direction by seeking market-oriented feed-in tariffs?

click here to read the full article by by John Blau on renewableenergyworld.com

Read more Articles about this Topic (click LINKS indicated below):

photovoltaik.eu 1

photovoltaik.eu 2

photovoltaik.eu 3

rinnovabili.it

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)

The programme with the mouse — How does photovoltaics work?

part1


part2


part3


[Copyright WDR and Armin Maiwald "Die Sendung mit der Maus"]

Silicon Valley Fun

Tesla Motors, makers of high-performance electric sports cars, like the Tesla Roadster, another Silicon Valley Innovation and success story:



[Copyright ZDF production "Amerikas andere Seite - Was Kalifornien besser macht";
watch part1; part2; part3; part4; part5]


Watch Jay Leno testing the Tesla Roadster:

20 % renewable energy by 2020

The European Union has set itself the ambitious goal of raising the share of renewable energy sources in the final overall energy consumption of the Union from 8.5 % in 2005 to 20 % in 2020.