Categoria: English works

M&V for white certificates

The presentation about M&V for white certificates held at the ENSMOV plus webinar organised by IEECP, FIRE, and ATEE on April 11. The event has been the occasion to compare measurement and verification in the Italian and French white certificates schemes, including examples from case studies. The discussion included various questions on the possibility to use different approaches and also IPMVP, the International performance measurement and verification protocol.

My presentation started with a general overview of the Italian WhC scheme, including the energy savings generated over the years, market prices, and the main categories of involved projects. It then went through the main points of M&V and how projects are presented.

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Energy managers as a driver for energy efficiency

Energy manager have always been an important resource in energy intensive industries to achieve energy efficiency improvements. This is still true with energy management systems, in which energy managers can play an important coordination action. Below you can find the presentation about energy managers as a driver for energy efficiency held at Antwerp during the Zero carbon industry conference organised by eceee.

Since 1991 in Italy it is mandatory to appoint an energy manager for every industrial organization with an annual consumption of more than 10,000 toe and for organizations from other sectors over 1,000 toe. In over 30 years the energy market and the awareness about energy efficiency have dramatically changed, putting energy managers in the limelight in the recent years as on of the main drivers of energy saving within large and medium organizations. 

Environmental concerns, market modifications, and the introduction of strong policies to promote energy efficiency are the main reasons behind the change of importance of energy management among enterprises and public bodies in the first decades of this century. More recently, the energy shock, the geopolitical instability at international level, and the foreseen impact of the Green new deal and RepowerEU programmes are pushing the importance of energy management even more.

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White certificates and tax relief schemes in Italy

https://energysavingpolicies.eu

Among the available policies to promote and support energy efficiency measures in Italy, white certificates and tax relief schemes are the ones that have been in use for a longer time (almost twenty years) and have produced the largest impact in terms of energy savings. In the paper presented at the 2024 eceee summer study the main characteristics are illustrated, together with the possible role of tax reliefs with tax credit transfer as an option to reduce energy poverty. In the end I also recommend another paper I co-authored on the situation of energy efficiency targets at EU member state level.

The Italian mix to achieve the targets on energy savings set by the energy efficiency directive includes many policies. Among them, the two that have played the main role over the last decades have been the white certificate scheme (WhC) and tax reliefs (including superbonus and ecobonus). This paper aims at illustrating how such policies have worked, what results they have achieved, what issues have been met over the years, and how everything reflects in the Italian National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).
The Italian WhC has been in place since 2005 and has achieved 29 Mtoe of energy savings since its launch. The scheme is a tradable one, with an important role for ESCOs, that has involved in recent years mainly industry, even if it is open to all the sectors. Among its main characteristics there is the fact that all energy savings, since 2017, are effectively measured according to an approach in line with International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP) option B.
Ecobonus has been in place since 2007 and has achieved 26 Mtoe of energy savings by 2020. It is a tax relief scheme, covering from 50% to 85% of the capital expenditures recoverable on tax payments over 10 years and limited to energy efficiency measures for buildings. The relief quota depends on the type of intervention (it is higher for condominiums if associated to anti-seismic measures). The energy savings are estimated on the basis of the information provided in the applications. In 2021 a new fiscal measure was launched, the superbonus, that is a tax relief recoverable in 5 years with a relief quota equal to 110% in the first phase (currently is 70%). The measures created a massive demand of building renovation and the cumulated cost is about 100 billion euros.
A interesting outcome of the superbonus scheme is the possibility to link tax reliefs with tax credit transfer to facilitate the participation of citizens in energy poverty conditions.

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White certificates: the effects of the 2021 guidelines

The paper presented at the 2022 ECEEE summer study international conference on white certificates. It follows previous works available on this website and aims to summarising the effects of the 2021 guidelines on the scheme. Why am I publishing it on my blog after one year? Well, I was too busy to do it last June and then I forgot… Better late than never, and in any case not much has changed in the meantime. 2022 has not been a good year for white certificates. 2023 will perhaps get some better, judging by the first six months. But this will be… in a future paper! 😉

The Italian White Certificates scheme (WhC) was introduced in 2001 and has been effectively working since 2005. It has been characterised by the coverage of all sectors and energy efficiency solutions, and many flexibility options in place (e.g. non-obliged – a.k.a eligible – parties, tradable market for white certificates, bankability, flexibility on obliged parties targets, etc.).

With more than 29 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) of energy savings cumulated by the end of 2021, it has considerably contributed to the national energy efficiency targets.

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Multiple benefits of energy efficiency: a practical approach to evaluation

An article written with Livio De Chicchis about a practical approach to the evaluation of multiple benefits of energy efficiency, based on the mbenefits methodology. The general approach is summarised here, together with two case studies in which we were involved.

The article was published on the magazine Process Industry Informer last March.

Multiple benefits are defined as those economic effects generated by an energy efficiency project that go beyond energy savings. Every energy efficiency project can be associated with positive effects, the so-called non-energy benefits (NEBs), and negative ones (non-energy losses). An assessment of these effects by energy managers and technology providers can be important for three main reasons:

  • It adds economic value to the project, improving its economic indicators.
  • Since it requires a more thorough analysis, it allows to operate in a de-risking perspective, reducing the perceived risk associated with energy efficiency.
  • It facilitates the acceptance of energy efficiency projects, since it allows to highlight to decision makers and managers in charge of different departments the effects of the energy efficiency projects that are in line with their specific targets and priorities. 

Considering that the cost of energy efficiency tends to rise over the years, due to the increasing difficulty in introducing additional optimisations, the evaluation of non-energy benefits allows to counterbalance such issue.

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