EF Solare Italia aims at directing the growth of the Italian solar industry by positioning itself as an aggregator of the industry’s instances and by promoting technological innovation.
PHOTOVOLTAICS GROWTH THROUGH STORAGE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ITALIAN ELECTRIC MARKET
Storage is a key technology for the growth of renewables as part of the energy decarbonisation process: storage systems allows to integrate photovoltaics and other clean, non-schedulable sources into the electric market, due to the possibility of offering ancillary network services.
The most widespread technology at a utility-scale level is electrochemical lithium-based storage, a technology so important it was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2019. This technology is marked by a constant decrease in costs, but this is not the only driver needed to flare up investments. To make it happen, several step forward are needed in different fields.
EF Solare Italia, as the leading photovoltaics operator, has tasked Elemens with preparing the study “Storage: overview, regulation and business plan in Italy”, to promote a prepositive debate on these topics along the operators of the electric industry. The research identified in Europe around 3 GW of utility-scaled storage projects, mostly concentrated in the UK and Germany, where a regulated market already exists, in which storage projects are rewarded for providing network services.
The study also estimates that, considering an hypothesis of complete optimization of storage managing, achieving the 2030 NECP targets would bring potential benefits for the public around 2.6 billion Euros, thanks to the decrease of the average PUN determined by renewable generation time-shifting.
That said, the risks connected to these kind of project currently halt the operators’ commitment in these area. The sum of the various risk factors – technology, market, laws – may determine a negative expected return.
The study has been unveiled in a roundtable attended by several operator: from the debate it emerged the need of a clear and encouraging regulatory and legal framework that can produce long-term price indicators. It has been the first stage of a more articulated process that the company will bring forth with the contribution of all those involved.
EF Solare Italia, as the national leader of photovoltaics, aims at directing the growth of the Italian solar industry by positioning itself as an aggregator of the industry’s instances and by promoting technological innovation.