Energy system, 100 billion to 2035 to cut prices
A portfolio of regulatory and authorisation measures to enable up to around EUR 100 billion of private investment by 2035 and generate measurable impacts on prices, energy security and decarbonisation. This is the proposal that emerges from the study 'Networks and infrastructures: optimal mix of investments for a balanced development of the energy system', presented today by Agici and Accenture at the annual workshop of their Utilities Observatory. Among the measures identified: a definite timetable for the Fer auctions, the completion of maps of suitable areas, the fine-tuning of the reform of the transmission grid connection - to overcome virtual saturation, prioritise concrete projects and reduce authorisation times, which are today among the longest in Europe -, the unblocking of hydroelectric concessions expiring by 2029, a plan that includes hydroelectric pumping as storage systems, and the management of data centres as energy assets. The Agici-Accenture study also outlines measures for gas - increased regasification capacity and domestic production, new gas pipelines - and cites nuclear power as a future direction, on which to build a regulatory framework now, but with effects after 2035. All these energy policy actions could mobilise, according to the study, up to 100 billion euro cumulatively by 2035, of which around 60-65 billion on renewables and networks.
And they can bring results: up to 15 euros per MWh of potential reduction in the average electricity price by 2035; a cut in energy dependence on foreign countries from the current 74% to around 66%; an annual saving of 30 million tonnes of CO2. "Italia can tackle the energy trilemma with the tools it already has at its disposal. The utilities are investing, the technologies are there, private capital is available. What is missing is not public money, but regulatory certainty and policy continuity. The initiatives we are presenting act simultaneously on price, security and sustainability: their deepest value is to avoid that, at every new emergency, the system is forced to choose between one objective and the other,' commented Pierfederico Pelotti, managing director and head of the Utilities Market at Accenture Italia.
Italian utilities already invest around EUR 14 billion per year in the energy system, the study shows, and the various Fer X and Macse are tools that have proven to work. Now we need to give continuity and plan harmonised development. Perhaps starting with authorisations, with average processing times of 4-7 years compared to 1-2 years in the main European countries, and a cost of 20-30% of the total plant cost. "With the world entering a phase of permanent geopolitical tensions, utilities take on the role of central players for national security and the country's competitiveness. The rapid realisation of crucial infrastructures such as grids, renewables, reservoirs, storage and recovery plants for critical raw materials now requires an industrial and institutional execution capacity equal to the challenge. In this complex framework, it is necessary to intervene on the knots that are still slowing down the opening of construction sites, starting with the public-private partnership and hydroelectric concessions: today more than ever, the delay has a cost that the country can no longer afford,' added Marco Carta, CEO of Agici.
