Il consumo di energia elettrica in Sardegna come indice delle attività produttive del territorio

Production and demand of electricity are considered useful parameters for estimating the health of productive activities in a geographical area. These parameters have particular interest in an island, just as Sardinia, that, until the sixties, was able to use the power plants of his own territory in order to satisfy his own energy requirements. With the activation, in 1968, of the first power submarine line between the Island, Corsica and the Italian Peninsula, it was possible to import and export electricity with a consequent development of the productive activities in Sardinia.
In the Two-Thousands, several wind farms and solar parks were installed on Sardinian coasts, this, united with two new submarine power lines, has enhanced and improved the interchange of electricity between Island, Peninsula and Corsica.
In the last decade Sardinian electricity production has had a slight increase but the consumption strongly fell. This decrease was due to a serious industrial crisis in the Island. With the crisis the electricity consumption of Sardinian industries was almost halved, at the same time there was a reduction of workforce in the sector, associated with an increase in hours of wages guarantee fund. As a result of the decrease in regional consumption the export of electricity, to other Italian regions and Corsica, grew by six times. Although, the negative economic situation persists and the surplus energy increases with respect to the real needs of the Island, new power plants are being planned, mostly in coastal areas on land and off-shore.
The present work, firstly, aims to show how the decrease of electricity consumption in Sardinia, since 2000, is correlated to the workforce reduction in industry. Secondly, since Sardinia produces more electricity than it is used on the Island, the work aims to propose a reflection on the opportunity to build new power plants, in particular wind farms and solar parks, which are more and more denaturing the coastal areas of the Island.