La trasformazione del settore energetico in Italia

In the last years the environmental policies of the most industrialized countries are oriented towards actions to reduce global greenhouse gases emissions to mitigate the effects on climate change. Among the main intervention identified, there are actions direct to the energy sector, aimed to the reduction of the use of fossil fuel for the energy production and to the promotion of the use of less polluting fuels and renewable sources. The final goal of these measures will be to achieve total decarbonisation of the energy industry, through the complete end of the use of coal as fuel, because it is considered one of the major sources of greenhouse gases emissions into the atmosphere. In Italy the decarbonisation scenarios of the energy industry have been taken into account in two planning documents addressed to the energy sector: Strategia Energetica Nazionale (SEN) and Piano Nazionale Integrato per l'Energia e il Clima (PNIEC). The documents establish the complete phase out from coal by 2025, replaced by gas-fired power plants and energy produced from renewable sources. This strategic choice has boosted the conversion and transformation of some of the traditional plants operating in Italy, to adapt their equipment to the production standards required in the SEN and PNIEC, taking also advantage from the capacity market, a tool created to satisfy the electricity demand and to guarantee optimal levels of adequacy and safety of the national power grid. To deal with the discontinuity of the renewable sources to generate energy, were developed projects for the construction of storage systems, to supply energy in a short time if necessary. This context is leading to an evolution and transformation of the Italian energy system, going from large plants, planned for a continuous and uninterrupted production of energy for the grid, to more flexible systems, to support peaks in energy demand intervening quickly and ensuring adequacy standards of national electric system. To support these evaluations, data and information on specific projects aimed to transform the Italian thermoelectric sector are presented and illustrated, as well as the results of the capacity market auctions concluded.