It is a dramatic gesture, explains Veronica Pitea, the president of the association, in a statement to protest against the ‘dichotomy‘ of the Italian Government, which verbally supports energy transition but, in practice, its legislative decrees go in an entirely different direction.

“The staggering increase in energy costs, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, risks bringing the renewable energy sector in Italy to its knees,” Pitea asserts. “Paradoxically, this sector should be the ‘engine’ of Italy’s energy transition. If the Government does not heed our appeal, we will be forced to shut down the more than 10,000 photovoltaic plants scattered across Italy, which produce over 900 GWh of clean energy from renewable sources, and light up the equivalent of 6 large cities like Rome, Milan, Naples, Bologna, Bari, and Palermo combined.

If the Government does not amend the Sostegni Ter decree and Article 36 connected to the 2020 Budget Law, by providing alternative measures for renewable energy producers (for example, ‘revamping’ plants, i.e., replacing parts of the plant and repairing it to restore optimal production), it would become unsustainable for us to keep our plants operational, and it would be more advantageous to shut everything down rather than operate at a loss.

The impact of the shutdown could be devastating; all productive activities might suffer, from agricultural to industrial to artisanal. These plants also directly employ over 70,000 people who would find themselves unemployed. I am even saddened to hear our producers worried that such a drastic measure could lead to the shutdown of the plants. I therefore trust in the Draghi Government and the Minister of Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, who has recently reiterated the centrality of renewable energies, i.e., us at Aceper, in the PNRR and in managing the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.”