New Opportunities for Italy

ITALIAN SPECIAL New opportunities for Italy

Italy – il Paese del Sole – the country of the sun. Hardly any other country in Europe seems to show such favourable boundary conditions for the development of solar thermal. High solar irradiation levels and high prices for conventional energy come together with an enormous technical potential for solar heating and cooling and a society with a big buying power.

Touristic Italy: This 4.8 m2 system for solar hot water is installed in the heart of Anzio near Rom. Photo: Consolar

SolarSolar heaheatedted wwaterater fforor the guesthouse iinn ththee mmonasteryonastery in Saeben: The collectors were brought to the site with the helicopter. Photo: Agency for Energy Saving, Bozen

76 Sun & Wind Energy 2/2006 ITALIAN SPECIAL New opportunities for Italy

ut only in the last years Italy catches up with the other European markets, mainly driven bottom-up by interested end-users, active enterprises and local promotion initiatives. Expectations are high, that the new Italian government will back-up this new growth with a national development programme à la France or Spain, in order to ensure quality Binstallations and a faster, but sustainable development of this sector.

Ups and downs in the Italian market

SolarSolar ccollectorollector installainstallationtion fforor heaheatingting anandd ccoolingooling After a ﬁ rst boom in the late seventies and the early on the roof of the company Ebner Energie Technik in eighties, the Italian solar heating market collapsed in Eppan near Bozen, Northern Italy. Photo: EUREC 1987 after the phasing out of a subsidy programme managed by ENEL, the national electricity utility. For

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Figure 2: Development of the the following decade, annual collector sales remained Others 8 % 2 Italian solar thermal market. below 10.5 MWth (15,000 m ). For a long time solar Poland 2 % The number for 2006 is esti- thermal suﬀ ered under a poor image caused by a large Switzerland 2 % mated. number of malfunctioning plants installed during the Cyprus 3 % Source: Assolterm, ESTIF ﬁ rst boom. Only since the mid of the nineties, later than Italy 4 %

Spain 5 %

Germany: 47 % 80,000 Installed collector area per year [m2] France 6 % 70,000

60,000 Total national market National production Greece 11 % 50,000

40,000 Austria 12 % 30,000 Figure 1: Share of the national markets in Europe in 20,000 2005. The total installed solar thermal capacity adds 2 up to 1,398 MWth (almost 2 million m ) 10,000 Figure: S&WE, Source: ESTIF 0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 and the objectives defi ned in the Italian White Book for Renewable Energies, 3 million m2 of solar collectors installed in 2010, remain ambitious and most probably will not be reached. Since a coordinated reliable monitoring of the collector installations is still not performed, the statistics of Global solar irradiation [kWh/m2] fi gure 2 have to be considered with suffi cient care. How- 1,700 ever, also soft indicators like a growing number of local 1,600 initiatives, new enterprises and media reporting on 1,500 solar thermal confi rm a new atmosphere of departure. 1,400 Luca Zingale, director of Solarexpo, Italy’s fi rst special- 1,300 ised solar energy fair and conference could count a 1,200 growth of 120 % for Solarexpo‘s 2006 edition: »Some years ago nobody would have believed that in Italy 22,000 persons could be mobilised for visiting a fair on solar and renewable energies. This proves that the renewable energy sector fi nally is in its phase of defi nit ive take-off , and this also in our country.« As success factors for the positive development since the mid of the nineties can be listed the strong growth of the local markets of the autonomous Prov- inces of Trento and Bolzano as well as other important subsidy programmes launched by numerous regions and last but not least the Ministry for Environment. Furthermore the Italian solar thermal industry association Assolterm has infl uenced positively the coordina- Energy prices: tion and visibility of the solar thermal sector. Presently, Natural gas: 0.80 €/m3 the strong increase of the prices for conventional ener- Heating oil: 1.20 €/l gy, which in Italy are already traditionally higher than in Electricity: 0.20 €/kWh other European countries lead the public discussion System prices: 800 – 1,000 €/m2 (installed, and interest more and more on the use of solar energy including VAT) for the production of domestic heat (see fi gure 3). On the other hand, in many areas the market is still under its critical mass: Low awareness and confi dence Figure 3: Favourable macro in other European countries, a consistent revival of the on the demand side come together with a not existing condition for the develop- market has taken place reaching a mean annual growth local supply side. Presently, the major obstacles for a ment of solar thermal, radia- of 15 % for the last decade and a yearly installation rate stronger market growth are the absence of a national 2 tion map, energy prices and of about 50.4 MWth (72,000 m ) for 2005 (see fi gure 2). development programme combining a comprehensive system prices for solar hot Thus, the contribution to the European solar thermal quality and qualifi cation scheme with stable promotion water systems market from Italy, one of the fi ve big countries in Eu- and subsidy programmes and the low level of profes- Source: ENEA, Ambiente Italia rope with nearly 60 million inhabitants, lays under 4 % sional qualifi cation of installers, planners and architects.

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ITALIAN SPECIAL

Vacuum tube collectors on the roof of the Accademia Europea di Bolzano Photo: EUREC

Solar hot water for public swimming: Since 2003, 88 collectors of the type Chro- Target groups for solar thermal 1991 and a recent subsidy programme aimed at public magen CR 120 supply the buildings. The complicated decision making structures public pool centre of Erice, The main target group for solar water and space heating and the lack of awareness regarding energy saving Sicily, South Italy. are private households. Of the 20 million dwellings in issues in the public sector have, however, drastically lim- Photos (4): Chromagen Italia Italy more than 70 % are situated in large apartment ited the success of this law. All over Italy only a few build ings. Almost 90 % of all dwellings are in private own - examples of solar heating plants on public buildings are ership. About 25 % of them are rented. The number of known. Mario Gamberale from Kyoto Club, created a single family houses in Italy is low, compared to central new campaign »Operazione 10« which reminds public and northern European countries. A large portion of all decision makers of their obligation to solarise their large multifamily houses are multi-property, organised as con- amount of public owned buildings. dominiums. The installation of a solar collector on the roof About 4 % of all Italian dwellings are owned by hous- of a condominium usually has to be approved by all own- ing associations. The analyses of the knowledge and the ers. This fact has proven to be one of the main obstacles ideas on solar heating systems among Italian housing for the diff usion of solar plants in urban areas. Further associations revealed all the problems of a starting mar- centralised hot water systems are rare in multifamily ket. The knowledge on solar heating technology lies far houses. In spite of the low awareness of environmental below European average. Based on bad experiences issues, many private households declare to be interest- from the past, today well developed products are un- ed in solar heating. One reason is the high cost for con- known and the confi dence in the technology is almost ventional water heating technologies. In the case of absent. The huge tourist sector and in particular hotels electric boilers, which are still very diff used in Southern and camping sites along the Italian coastline is another Italy and on the islands (40 % of all dwellings), a family key target group. Surprisingly, solar heating systems are spends about 500 €/a for domestic water heating. still an exception in this sector. One reason lays in the Public buildings like hospitals, sport centres, swim- fact that hotels profi t from tax exemptions on natural ming pools etc. are ideal customers for solar water heat- gas. Ambiente Italia’s recent project »Solarge« is aim- ing due to the high hot water consumption all around ing at opening markets for large scale solar thermal the year. The Italian government has tried to activate this plants on multi-family buildings, hotels, public and so- target group with the energy saving law no. 10 from cial buildings.

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Thermosiphon system of the roof of a house in Sira- cusa, Sicily, Southern Italy

This villa in Lake Garda, North of Italy heats the hot Space is not the problem at water with two in-roof collectors Solar industry and products this site in Riparbella, Tuscany Photo: Kloben The majority (> 95 %) of solar heating plants installed in Italy are small systems below 30 m2 (21 kW), installed on single or double family houses. Among these prevail by far solar water heaters. In Northern Italy, there is a cer- tain trend towards combi-systems which provide both hot water and space heating. This application, however, is interesting for the central mountain areas of the whole peninsula, considering the fact that even in Sicily lo- cations are found with space heating demands of more than 2,000 degreedays. Today mostly compact thermosiphon systems are used in Central and Southern Italy, working exclusively for hot water production. In the north- Bed and Breakfast Villa Enrica with solar installation ern regions of Italy, as in Central Europe, forced circula- Photo: GMP Engineering tion systems with separated collector and storage tank

��

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Solar plant of the Rebibbia prison in Rome Photo: Riccardo Battisti

Permission procedures in protected areas The average age of the Italian building stock is high compared to other European countries. Many urban and rural areas are protected by specifi c monumen- tal or landscape preservation laws. The installation of solar collectors in these areas is often hindered by particularly rigid building codes. These liabilities could be directly on the building (e.g. historical buildings) or on the area where it is installed, e.g. parks, coastal areas, etc. »The bureaucratic procedure for permitting solar thermal in protected areas is very costly and it often leads to negative exit«, emphasises Sergio D’Alessandris, president of Assolterm. In order to install a solar thermal system when liabilities are present, an offi cial permission request to all the interested actors is needed, e.g. Cultural For fi ve years this collector Heritage Department (CHD), Park Administration, fi eld supplies the public sport are more diff used. The market shares of Northern Italy and Re gion and Municipality. Especially when CHD is in- centre Sommacompagna in Central/Southern Italy are about 70 % to 30 %. Flat plate volved, the applicant should present very detailed Veneto Region, North Italy, collectors dominate the market, but a tendency to apply documentation (architectural drawings or even ren- with hot water for a tennis evacuated tube collectors can be perceived in Italy too. derings), whose cost, for small domestic solar ther- court and a gym. There are about 60 suppliers of solar heating sys- mal systems, could be higher than the investment tems on the Italian market. The 18 national manufac- cost itself. turers cover about 20 % of the domestic market. The sec- »Technical solutions to limit the visual impact tor directly employs about 700 persons and generated should be implemented, but the involved public bod- in the year 2005 a turnover of about 40 million €. Most ies should be also aware of this technology benefi ts of these companies are small and medium enterprises. for the community, when evaluating the projects,« »Our industry has good technological know-how,« says advises D’Alessandris. A solution could be to devel- Sergio D’Alessandris, president of Assolterm. »However, op national guidelines for the correct architectural in order to face a sudden market boost, huge invest- integration of solar thermal systems on build ings ments are needed and therefore contributions from in- and the standardisation of permitting procedures stitutions, namely the Ministry of Industry«. and evaluation criteria.

Training programme for installers develop brand-new mounting systems for country-spe- Today, a far larger market share is occupied by Italian cifi c roof designs. branch offi ces of foreign manufacturers, one of them is »Solar installers should be adequately trained in or- the German collector manufacturer Wagner & Co, which der to lower installation costs and to increase quality,« entered the Italian market four years ago. »Our solar confi rms D’Alessandris the new task for his important power systems immediately met with great interest, but industry association. Assolterm covers all the solar ther- at fi rst it was diffi cult to fi nd suitable installation com- mal chain, including manufacturers, distributors and re- panies that had practical experience implementing such tailers of collectors and components, designers, install- projects,« recalls Liviana Holland-Wagner, company co- ers and even research institutes. Therefore the associa- founder and responsible for the Italian market. Consider- tion recently launched a training programme for install- able information and instruction material made up for ers, which releases a voluntary quality mark »Solar Pass these defi ciencies. The export market also demanded Installa«, quite similar to the French »Qualisol« scheme. customised products. For example, Wagner & Co had to However, what is really missing in Italy is a strategic vi-

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Mounting of the ﬁ rst »solar roof« on a condominium in Moncalieri, Province of Turin Photos (4): Ambiente Italia

them is the Riello Group. »»After a ﬁ rst approach in the seventies, two years ago we decided to invest again in the renewable sector, with special attention to solar thermal technology,« explains Marco Angiolini, sales man- ager of Thermital in the Riello Group. »The market fore- casts were quite encouraging and we must say that the promises have been kept.« Italy is representing today one of the European markets with a high potential. Consequently, national and international companies are highly interested in achiev- ing a good position in this market. The high share of Nice view: The inhabitants of foreign visitors of the Solarexpo fair indicates that the this home for the elderly in pressure on the Italian market will increase from coun- San Germano, Province of Tu- tries which traditionally produce compact thermosi- rin, do not only enjoy their phon systems, as Greece, Turkey and Israel, as well as solar heated water, but also from manufacturers of forced circulation solar heating the beautiful panorama from plants from Central Europe. their balconies. Regional actions drive the market

It is doubtless that what Italy missed so far in the development of its solar thermal market is an integrated and comprehensive approach to the problem. No consistent strategic vision has ever been proposed at a national level. Due to this reason and also to the fact that regional governments have strong power on energy issues, the development of solar thermal has been so far led by local actors, such as regions, provinces and municipalities. This is the main reason of the birth of several regional sion in the medium and long term, which could give the sub sidy programmes and, more recently, of the so cal l- solar thermal sector a comprehensive approach. D’Ales- ed »solar ordinances«. sandris and his team have committed themselves to this Several municipalities, so far small ones (like Corbetta, task, which will be its main activity in the next months. Melzo, Cassina De’ Pecchi, Pieve Emanuele, Cusago) with the exception of Rome, have introduced solar ordi- Importers increase pressure on the nances, foreseeing solar thermal as a mandatory energy Italian market measure in all new and in some cases also refurbished buildings, to cover at least a fraction of about 50 to 70 % For a long time, solar heating systems have been com- of the domestic hot water demand. This kind of initia- mercialised only by companies which exclusively work tive took place in Italy thanks to the ﬁ rst example of Caru- in this sector. For some years now, however, most manu- gate, a small municipality, from where it was extended facturers of conventional heating systems have started to ﬁ ve more municipalities in the Province of Milano. The to produce solar heating plants or have integrated solar Province itself is now the promoter of a wider action to heating products in their product catalogue. One of spread the use of solar in building regulations, provid ing

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Italian authorities: successful promoters on local level Local authorities can play a key role for the develop- giore and the Alps, feeds 200 MW of hydroelectric ment of energy sustainability at local level. A compre- power into the national electricity grid and is thus one hensive promotion programme was set-up by the of the most important producers of renewable elec- Province of Turin. Dorino Piras, councillor for the en- tric energy in Italy. Recently, the province started its vironment gives a clear view on the approach: »Our engagement also for solar thermal energy with two local promotion programmes for renewable energies new signifi cant initiatives: the creation of the solar base on a complete support to the investors. It is energy centre (Il Centro del Sole) in 2005 linked to Solar education: Italian essential to create subsidy schemes and inform the the Verbano branch of Legambiente, Italy’s major en- pupils build a model of a involved actors about their existence. Furthermore, vironmental association, and the publication of a sub- solar city technicians must be trained and supported, especially during the design and the installation of plants. Finally, an adequate monitoring plan should check the operation of each system.« The Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and the Ratio- nal Use of Energy (RUE) politics of the province ad - ministration concentrate on a variety of aspects: bio- mass, solar thermal, PV and energy saving measures. Among them, solar thermal has received particular attention, pointing on professional qualifi cation and demonstration. For the qualifi cation aspect the intense collaboration with the local engineer and architect chambers as well as the handicraft associations were of importance. Demonstration was obtain ed by co-fi - nancing pilot plants also in synergy with European projects. Most of the plants are monitored in order to disseminate the results on the province territory. A programme particularly appreciated was the »promotion of large scale solar heating systems«, presently in the conclusion phase. Within this initiative three demonstration plants have been realised. All three plants are described in detail under the good- practice data base of the intelligent energies project Solarge. The Province of Turin gave subsidies for these plants and provided the technical accompaniment for Campaign »Paese del Sole« their realisation. A brochure informs the communes sidy programme for solar heating systems. In the fi rst in Rome: teaching solar of the province and the local stakeholders about the months, the centre has organised relevant confer - thermal to all generations results of this programme. en ces, courses, seminars and public events. The success Photos (2): Reseda In the Lazio region, Reseda, a social cooperative has been encouraging; people, well-informed by has involved numerous local authorities for promot- media and worrying about the serious environmental ing the Altener campaign »Paese del Sole«. Among situation and for the fossil fuel shortage, showed a these we cite the Province of Rome, the municipali- great sensitiveness. ties of Monte Porzio Catone and Ciampino as well as Also, the centre convinced the provincial authori- the district Castelli Romani. The campaign promotes ties to publish a subsidy programme with an incentive solar thermal on a broad base in the territory. The of 300,000 € for solar thermal, which will cover 20 % campaign programme includes numerous actions on of the plants purchase and installation expenses for 2 local level like qualifi cation courses, technical mar- about 1 MWth (around 1,500 m ) of collectors: A good keting, involvement of the local actors and concrete contribution in order to promote and to spread the technical solutions for the residential, agriculture, use of solar energy. ✹ sport and tourism sector. The Province of Rome has fi nanced a qualifi cation initiative especially for the technical offi ces of all municipalities and other admin- Further information: istration units in the province territory. Sixty func - Programme of the Province of Turin: www.provincia.torino.it/ambiente/energia ti onaries participated in these courses and it has been Altener Paese del Sole (Italian network of solar thermal possible to promote solar thermal best practice ex- campaigns): www.paesedelsole.org amples to this important target group. EIE Solarge (solar thermal for multi-family houses and hotels): www.solarge.it The small Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, si t u- Reseda: www.resedaweb.org ated in the Piemont Region between the Lake Mag- Il Centro del Sole per una Provincia Solare: www.ilcentrodelsole.org

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In summer like in winter: The solar plant on the Environ- mental Centre Consorzio Pra- catinat at Fenestrelle, Prov- ince of Turin, provides its part of the energy demand. Photos (2): Ambiente Italia

general guidelines for the municipalities which are wil l- pushed up, since the predisposition for solar thermal ing to adopt such a scheme. The ﬁ rst results are quite en- plants is mandatory in all new buildings and in the couraging: In Carugate 1 m2 of solar collectors were in- refurbishment of large buildings (predisposition means stalled for 44 inhabitants, while the Italian average is 1 m2 leaving enough space on the roof to install collectors, a for about 1,400 inhabitants. Also some regions intro- technical room for the storage and also for piping). duced this concept in their framework laws on energy. At national level, a »White Certiﬁ cate« scheme is oper- Another key issue for the development of the solar ating, which foresees credits for energy saving mea- thermal market is the national implementation of sures, including solar thermal installations. This mecha- the European Directive on the Energy Performance of nism, despite the good advantages of being available at Buildings. The use of solar thermal energy is strongly national level and during the whole year, could not be

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seen as a real incentive that could push the investment Imported solar systems are in solar thermal plants, mainly for two reasons: dominating the Italian mar- ● as in any certiﬁ cate system, solar thermal is compet- ket: A thermosiphon system ing with other technologies only from an economic of the Australian manufactur- point of view; er Edwards (today Solahart) ● the maximum subsidy per m2 installed (the actual ﬁ g- is installed on this single- ure depends on the market) is between € 30 and € 130, family house. thus meaning 4 to 18 % of the investment cost; it should Photo: Reseda

be taken into account that the maximum value of 18 % is possible only in »special« conditions (Southern regions, organisation of energy issues, which foresees applica- replacing electric boilers, evacuated tube collectors) and tive decrees within the next year and explicitly includes that the total subsidy is spread over fi ve years. solar thermal. The fi rst reaction from the policy makers and their attitude towards the solar thermal sector are A unique chance really encouraging and, therefore, all the involved actors should focus their eff orts to continuous pressure The Italian market is learning slowly its lessons from action on the national institutions. ✹ the above mentioned shortcomings. Local initiatives Riccardo Battisti showed that actions can drive the market quite well. The Thomas Paschinger coming months will show whether the new government is willing to implement an integrated national Riccardo Battisti is research fellow at the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of Rome »La Sapienza«. programme making use of the nationally and interna- Engineer Thomas Pauschinger is collaborator at the Research Institute Il Centro del Sole: A new tionally available best practices. »Solar thermal industries Ambiente Italia in Milan, Italy, and the Steinbeis Research Institute SFI found ed solar energy centre are now facing a quite small market, but at the same Solites in Stuttgart, Germany. in the small province of time there is a high employment potential,« states An- Further information: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola sup- tonio Crovetti, director of the system integrator Kloben. Assolterm: www.assolterm.it ports the campaign for solar Ambiente Italia: www.ambienteitalia.it/solare.htm »Therefore also our institutions should support compa- Ministry of Economy Development (former Ministry of Industry): thermal energy by informing ny investments with ad hoc programmes for technolo- www.attivitaproduttive.gov.it inter ested citizens. gical and industrial development.« Ministry of Environment: www2.minambiente.it Photo: Il Centro del Sole Solarexpo Fair and Conference: www.solarexpo.com A unique chance is now available through the so- EIE Solarge (campaign on collective solar thermal systems): called »Pacchetto Bersani«, a framework law on the re- www.solarge.it

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