Photovoltaic energy would have an immediate effect on reducing bills, cutting costs by 40% to 70%. Estimating an average cost reduction of 50% (within the 40% to 70% range), Italian families would achieve total savings of approximately 24 billion euros.» These are the words of Veronica Pitea, President of ACEPER (Association of Renewable Energy Consumers and Producers), the association that brings together 10,000 renewable energy production plants, representing over 7,000 members with a total installed capacity exceeding 2 GWp. However, she warns about the sector’s challenges in our country: «We need to solve significant problems such as: the production of the raw materials necessary to carry out substantial work, the required workforce, and the methods of disposal at the end of the batteries and panels’ life. Unfortunately in Italy,» Pitea continues, «bureaucracy and, above all, the instability of our governments slow down the massive installation of photovoltaic panels and the development of renewable energy. Between the ‘Save Italy’ decree, incentive spreading, the Tremonti environment law, windfall profits, and many other issues, investors often find themselves facing new expenses and revised business plans because the State makes promises but, with each change of government, previous commitments become ‘broken promises.’»

The ACEPER President then addresses the issue of the EU’s new ‘green’ directives, which require all residential buildings to be converted to class E by 2030: «The main problem is that more than 60% of our buildings are in class F/G, not to mention that the next step would be to bring them to class D… To reach these levels, we must envision an Italy that changes its appearance completely. We should imagine a 110% effort multiplied probably by 1000. Then we have another problem in Italy: according to the Land Registry, there are currently about 2 million ghost houses and more than 35% of the registered buildings in the cadastre were built without complying with the regulations. First, we need to regularize these to ‘give a new face in terms of efficiency’: will we be able to do it by 2030? Surely, we need to align with the demands that the Earth itself makes of us; it’s no longer a matter of imposed rules but of necessity, so somehow, it will have to be done.» Veronica Pitea estimates that a significant workforce will be needed for this transition required by the EU: «Today, with the demand we have in the photovoltaic sector, we already lack about 500,000 workers; if we are to strictly meet the EU deadlines by 2030, we will probably need at least another 3 million. Certainly, we will need many workers, electricians, engineers, surveyors, architects, and construction sector workers. In all regions, with no exceptions.»

Finally, on the UN’s announcement that the ozone hole will close within 20 years, the ACEPER President comments: «Photovoltaic energy could accelerate this change because it reduces CO2 emissions, one of the main causes of the ozone hole. To produce one kilowatt-hour of electricity, the equivalent of 2.56 kWh in the form of fossil fuels is burned on average, and about 0.53 kg of carbon dioxide is emitted into the air. Therefore, it can be said that every kWh produced by the photovoltaic system avoids the emission of 0.53 kg of CO2. If we consider that out of 14 million surveyed buildings, we have just over 1 million installations…», concludes Veronica Pitea.

See here the article from Rinnovabili.it dated 01/13/2023

“Source Rinnovabili.it”

This news was also reported by: Energia Oltre – Meteo Web