The updated National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) of Italy, submitted to the European Commission, sets the target of 28 GW of wind energy, of which 2 GW are offshore wind.

Currently, Italy has 12.5 GW of installed wind power, according to the Associazione Nazionale Energia del Vento (ANEV), which points out that it is necessary to “more than double the installed wind power in the next 5 or 6 years.”

However, Davide Astiaso García, Secretary-General of ANEV, states that expectations are still favorable regarding the possibility of meeting the PNIEC goals, as there are potentials both in terms of wind resource and industrial development.

“It is necessary that institutions do not hinder companies and industrial growth with provisions contrary to development, as has been recently done with some national and regional bills, but instead provide Italy with the possibility to be a leader in the sector and not follow other countries, losing economic wealth, competitiveness, and jobs, as has already happened in the past in other sectors,” says Astiaso García in an interview with Energía Estratégica España.

Challenges of the sector

The Italian association points out that wind technology is mature and the cost of energy produced from this source is lower than that of traditional sources, making it an attractive option as it generates lower costs for businesses and citizens, energy independence, and zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite this, ANEV’s secretary asserts that there are still challenges to face, such as the regulatory and social aspects.

“In these 25 years of the technology, sector growth has been uneven, mainly due to slowdowns caused by a regulatory framework with excessive bureaucracy, often inconsistent with the decarbonization goals set over the years by the same Italian governments,” he states.

“Moreover, characterized by regulatory uncertainty, both in space (due to misaligned regional provisions) and in time, which have slowed down its development and the consequent positive impacts in our country, mainly in terms of industrial growth, new jobs, energy independence, the fight against the climate crisis, and the reduction and stabilization of energy prices, as confirmed by the increases and fluctuations of recent years due to the strong dependence we still have on fossil sources,” he adds.

On the other hand, he emphasizes the need to address the social aspect, as some people have a view of wind energy that “does not correspond with reality, often due to inaccurate information circulating in our country.”

“Sometimes due to ignorance, but perhaps also intentionally spread by those who would like to slow down the energy transition, creating unnecessary debates and confusion both in institutions and among citizens,” he explains.

He adds: “I take as an example the numerous inaccurate voices that have circulated about nuclear energy in Italy regarding the possible costs and timelines for implementing this technology in our country, which, unfortunately, have sometimes been mentioned even by distinguished institutional representatives.”

Offshore wind

Currently, Italy has 30 MW of offshore wind power, coming from a “near shore” project off the port of Taranto, which, according to ANEV, was the first to operate in the Mediterranean and required “a disproportionate amount of time to be authorized and completed.”

“However, the potential of our seas is high, both for fixed foundation installations (bottom fixed) and especially for floating offshore wind projects, thanks to the development of this latter technology in recent years, which opens the door to harnessing wind resources in deeper Italian seas and, therefore, farther from the coasts,” says the ANEV Secretary.

He also points out that the large number of ongoing projects and grid connection requests received by Terna in recent years is proof of this.

According to a survey conducted by Energía Estratégica España, as of June, there were two offshore wind projects in environmental processing totaling 1850 MW.

Astiaso García assures that the prospects for this technology are good and that it is expected to play a leading role in renewable energy production in Italy.

“However, it is necessary for institutions to accompany the technological growth of offshore wind energy, which, evidently, still has much lower maturity compared to land-based wind, and therefore entails higher production costs, which, however, are expected to decrease in the coming years thanks to investments from companies, which are accelerating their development like in all promising innovative technological sectors,” he points out.