In Italy, citizens will be able to share solar power from a system in future. Rome has issued a decree giving the green light for renewable energy communities and shared self-consumption constellations. This was announced by the photovoltaic association Italia Solare.
Experiments since 2019
The road to approval for the shared consumption of solar power was a long one, as industry representatives emphasize. Italy was the first country in Europe to experiment with this option. The first decree law number 162 dates back to 2019, but it is only now that this experimental phase has ended and the way has been cleared for energy communities.
Five gigawatts expected by 2027
With permission to establish energy communities, the government in Rome wants five gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity to be built by 2027. Based on the experience gained, Italia Solare assumes that the energy communities will build up at least a further twelve gigawatts of solar power capacity by 2030. This would mean that these communities would cover around 15 percent of the solar power expansion that the government has planned for the next six years.
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Contribution may be greater than expected
In addition, the energy communities increase the awareness of photovoltaics and could thus encourage even more citizens to participate. This possibility would also increase the acceptance of photovoltaics. "From this perspective, the contribution of energy communities to the 2030 targets could be much greater than the figures suggest," emphasize the industry representatives.
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Adhering to the set timetables
They hope that the text of the decree will define all the necessary conditions so that, from this moment on, operators can launch the numerous projects that are ready to take off and develop new projects. "The approval process of the text has taken a long time. Now we are confident that the remaining planned operational steps and the established timetables will be met," comments Andrea Brumgnach, Vice President of Italia Solare and coordinator of the Energy Communities and Self-Consumption working group within the association. (su/hcn))
