Markets & Trends Photo: Europressedienst Photo: Large crowds were waiting at the gates of the Fiera Milano, but not necessarily because of Solarexpo. Other trade shows that took place at the venue at the same time attracted more visitors than the solar exhibition. Reorientation Italy: The phaseout of the renewable energy law and the prospect of tariffs on solar imports raised concerns in Italy. The visitors of Solarexpo had lots to talk about. The first impression can be mislead- icantly less customers, but also top class ators of small rooftop systems continue ing. The long queues at the entrance of contacts,” commented the marketing to benefit from the incentive without an Solarexpo, which took place in Milan in director of a leading solar manufacturer. entry in the register. Nevertheless, these May, mainly consisted of visitors of the The boom years when major investment smaller PV plants are also part of the bud- Grafitalia/Converflex trade shows at the promised high returns of over 20% and get made available by the Italian govern- same venue. Only about 400 companies drew crowds of investors seem long over. ment for the promotion of solar power. presented their products and innovations Small, down to earth business is becom- In May, GSE’s official counter already at Solarexpo – after more than 1,000 had ing the driving force, also as a result of stood at €6.637 billion and the energy come to Solarexpo 2012 in Verona. Ital- the expiring Conto Energia V. authority decided to limit the second reg- ian companies in particular wrestled According to the Italian energy agency ister to €70.46 million. “That’s €50 mil- with the decision of whether to attend the Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE), lion less than the €120 million originally event in the current difficult economic which regulates the support scheme for envisaged,” says Andreas Lutz, Managing environment. Many Chinese players that solar power in Italy, the budget limit of Director of New Energy Projects. “Con- used to visit Solarexpo to look for sales €6.7 billion for the country’s solar incen- sidering the official figures and the addi- partners were absent. Some spontaneous tive has been almost reached. The dead- tional €70.46 million there is not much companies, such as the wholesaler Ener- line to submit proposals for the second room left until the limit is reached,” he ray S.p.A., had booked their booth last register, which will probably be the last states. However, this limit will probably minute to show their presence and reas- opportunity to benefit from solar feed- be reached with small-scale PV plants, sure customers. In spite of the minimal in tariffs in Italy, was May 17. Solar plants which are excluded from the registry. turnout, the exhibitors seemed to be sat- with a capacity of more than 14 kW have This means that there will probably not be isfied with the event. “There were signif- a requirement to register in Italy. Oper- a third register. Once the counter arrives 34 06 / 2013 | www.pv-magazine.com Markets & Trends if they use the solar electricity mostly for self-consumption. The decree supports solar power plants installed between June 26, 2012, and June 30, 2013. Gert Gremes, CEO of wholesaler Tecno Spot, Photo: A+ Sun Systems Photo: has pointed to another practical problem: “We still lack clear norms for the use of storage systems,” says the market expert, warning that without such norms, it will be difficult to achieve sustained growth in this segment. Milan was also a stage for product innovations. The Italian company A+ Sun Systems, for example, showcased their versatile and ultra-light SunNet mounting systems that use tensile struc- The SunNet mounting system by A+ Sun Systems is heading in new directions with tensile structures. tures and steel cables, making instal- lation easier and faster while reducing at €6.7 billion, incentives will be limited mon,” says Spillere. Many electricity con- turnkey system costs and expanding the to solar power plants with a requirement sumers in Italy are now looking for alter- scope of possible sites, including arched to register, if they start operating before natives. They are realizing that a PV plant roofs, landfills and quarries. the budget limit is reached and the opera- combined with a storage solution allows Cost reduction was a buzzword at tor submits an application for the feed-in for increased self-consumption and inde- Solar Expo. Following the announce- tariff within 30 days of the official expiry pendence from their electric utilities. ment in May that the European Com- of Italy’s renewable energy law. Industry players are also hoping that mission might impose protective tar- they can tackle the comparatively high iffs on cheap Chinese solar imports as of Building on self-consumption and rising electricity prices and become June, module prices have stopped plum- In the opinion of many market partic- more competitive through self-con- meting. Meanwhile, wholesalers are tak- ipants, the phaseout of Conto Energia sumption, says Giuseppe Sofia, CEO of ing advance payments while manufactur- V could lead to a sharp drop in new PV Conergy Italy. Households with lower ers from China have trouble selling their installations in Italy. But Rome has not consumption levels of around 3,500 kWh products in Italy. lost its optimism. Because of the gener- per year pay about €0.203 for every kilo- Generally, however, the installers do ally favorable conditions for solar in Italy, watt hour in Italy, says Sofia. Households not seem to be losing sleep over system the Italian Ministry of Economic Devel- with a higher demand of 7,500 kWh per costs. In a survey conducted in March opment expects that 1 GW of PV capac- year are charged as much as €0.249 for 2013, the majority of Italian solar install- ity will be installed annually through their electricity. Industrial consumers ers (65.6%) said they do not expect that 2020 without the help of solar subsidy pay about €0.19 for every kilowatt hour on protective tariffs will have any effect on programs. This, at least, has been laid average, he says. Consumers who choose their business. About one tenth of install- down in the Ministry’s draft strategy for to generate clean energy on their own ers indicated that they would change the national energy policy under the last roofs, however, can save substantially, as their procurement strategies and offer government. It now remains to be seen solar power costs only €0.12 to €0.16 per fewer Chinese module brands in their whether the new Environment Minis- kilowatt hour, depending on the region, product portfolios. Only 4.3% of install- ter Andrea Orlando puts theory into solar irradiation, size, system costs and ers said they will try to reduce other pro- practice. financing. “Italy has achieved grid par- curement costs. Manufacturers have wel- Many of those who attended Solar- ity with both small rooftop installations comed the decision to impose protective expo expect a new impetus to come from on private houses and industrial power tariffs, PV module maker Azimut for energy storage systems for PV self-con- plants whenever there is a self-consump- instance: “In the current price situation, sumption. In the second half of 2012, the tion rate of 70% and above,” says Sofia. our only option is to strengthen our busi- management of inverter manufacturer Storage solutions are still too expen- ness outside of Italy, in markets such as Valenia, for example, noted that custom- sive for most Italian customers, as solar Bulgaria and Romania,” says Carla Ram- ers were increasingly interested in storing installers note, but the technology is get- baldi, CEO of Azimut. solar power. “These requests began piling ting increasingly affordable. The organiz- The challenges for Italy’s solar mar- up,” says Silvia Spillere, spokeswoman for ers of Solarexpo recognized this trend by ket continue to be considerable in 2013, Valenia. Since the company also offers offering an exhibition hall specifically for at least if the industry wants to come storage technology, these requests did not storage technologies. “The Italian gov- close to the successes of the past years. go unheard. Spillere believes that the out- ernment is also providing its support,” Many industry players believe that cus- dated Italian distribution grid is mainly says Michael Wieser, member of stor- tomers have grown accustomed to the responsible for this trend. “The energy age supplier Neovoltaic’s management. high returns possible in previous years providers face a broad range of structural Homeowners can benefit from a tax and that they now need to be motivated problems. Power outages are quite com- break worth 50% of their PV investment again. S Michael Forst 36 06 / 2013 | www.pv-magazine.com.