Basing the planet’s economic and demographic growth on fossil fuels, as it has been in recent decades, is no longer sustainable. The growth of the planet requires a global commitment to the progressive and rapid decarbonization of all energy sectors and to increasing their efficiency. The electricity sector is at the centre of this process, thanks to the intrinsic efficiency of the electricity system and the technological maturity of RESs (renewable energy sources). And we’re here to explain why in four points.
The growth of the planet requires a global commitment to the progressive and rapid decarbonization of all energy sectors and to increasing their efficiency.
1. The challenge
Although electricity ranks third for covering final energy consumption (around 1/5 of total consumption), to date there is a penetration of 35% of renewable sources, much higher than the RES portion of total Italian consumption. Despite these results, the road to decarbonization still stretches far ahead and the targets to be achieved over the coming years are still extremely challenging. In addition to the complete phase-out of coal by 2025, the targets established by the INECP (Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan) foresee that, in 2030, RESs will cater for more than half of gross electricity consumption (55.4%). By 2030, around 40 GW of new RES capacity will need to be installed, supplied almost exclusively by non-programmable renewable sources, such as wind and photovoltaic.
2. How does this affect grid management?
The increase in RESs, non-programmable energy sources, the decommissioning of thermoelectric plants and the unpredictable effects of climate change have significant effects on grid management activities in terms of possible outages, voltage regulation and system adequacy. In this context, the challenge for a transmission system operator (TSO) like Terna is to ensure electricity production and demand are in balance at all times, in order to maintain energy transmission on the supply chain in a secure, adequate, efficient, continuous and reliable manner.
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3. The enabling factors of energy transition
In order to achieve the complete transition of the electricity sector, a set of actions needs to be shared between all stakeholders in four main areas: grid investments to enhance Italy's major infrastructure lines (North-South backbone and South and islands backbone) with cross-border interconnections and resilience works; correct long-term price signals to promote investments in new generation thermoelectric plants and storage systems; the evolution and integration of the European and dispatching service markets; and finally, the innovation and digitalisation of the transmission grid.
4. Goodbye carbon... but when?
The complete phase-out of coal in Italy is scheduled by 2025, in line with the standards set at European and international levels. In order to achieve this aim, in addition to the development of around 12 GW of renewable energy, the Italian electricity system needs new efficient thermoelectric capacity to replace what is expected to be decommissioned (primarily coal-fired). Furthermore, it will also require around 3 GW of new storage capacity to be installed, both hydroelectric and electrochemical. In order to realise these works, authorisation times will need to be reduced for grid infrastructure and new production capacity infrastructure (which are also subject to approval time for the Development Plan), in particular, thermoelectric and hydroelectric storage facilities.