Naples, February 14 – “In the South, there are interesting incentives (Bonus Sud, Industry 4.0, R&D Tax Credit, grants) that could greatly benefit entrepreneurship, both Green and otherwise. The problem is that our entrepreneurs often find themselves having to argue with state officials who contest various tax bonuses due to a lack of understanding of the regulations.

Regarding R&D, we have often seen credits aggressively contested by the Revenue Agency, as highlighted in one of many judgments (C.T.P. VICENZA, SENTENCE NO. 365/3/2021): ‘There is an abuse of power by the Office, as it is not technically competent to assess the value of activities aimed at improving the company’s production cycles.’ For this reason, despite the necessary measures for development being in place, unfortunately, entrepreneurs choose not to proceed due to a lack of confidence in the effectiveness of our system.” This is stated by Veronica Pitea, President of ACEPER (Association of Consumers and Producers of Renewable Energies), an association that includes 10,000 renewable energy production plants, with over 7,000 members and a total installed capacity exceeding 2 GWp.

Organized crime, which has recently sniffed out opportunities in the renewable sector, could tarnish the image of the entire ‘healthy’ segment of renewables. However, President Pitea has faith in the authorities: “We’ve had stories in the past, like that of the ‘king of wind power’ Vito Nicastri… I hope we don’t hide behind our fingers; we know there are similar situations in various sectors. That’s why law enforcement works to ensure, as in the case of Messina Denaro, that such ‘entrepreneurs’ are identified and punished by the law.”

To overcome the current energy crisis, ACEPER’s President sees no solution other than renewables: “To address the crisis, we see no other options. In this regard, the government must absolutely reduce bureaucracy, establish more technical tables with market players, and decrease regulatory instability.

Over the years, one thing that has scared both foreign and Italian entrepreneurs is something we have only in Italy, called ‘retroactivity’—the superpower of our laws/decrees to be modified after years with retroactive effects. We’ve had many such situations in renewables. For example, the spreading of incentives, the ‘Save Italy’ decree, the Tremonti environment, and others.

For now, the Meloni government has introduced rules that seem interesting, but without implementing decrees, we don’t know if they will actually turn into opportunities. We are still very cumbersome, and unfortunately, for example, in terms of grants that could facilitate the sector, bureaucracy prevails over Green,” concludes the President of ACEPER.