Tag: incentive

White certificates in Italy: will it overcome the huge challenges it has been facing in the last three years?

eceee summer study

The paper on white certificates in Italy I presented at the 2019 ECEEE conference. The paper goes through the whole life of the scheme, highlighting pros and cons of each phase, and tries to offer some insights to answer the question: will the scheme overcome the huge challenges it has been facing in the last three years?

I’ve been writing on the Italian white certificate scheme for many years now. Many papers are available on this blog. The present one, and the associated slides used for the speech at ECEEE summer study, are available below.

My idea is that the answer to the afore mentioned question can be positive. However, it requires the capability to find the right balance between precision and stringency on the one hand and the willingness to undergo a strong revision of the scheme on the other. FIRE is working hard to support the Italian policy makers and institutional stakeholders to find a way. What will be the future? Well, that’s for another paper…

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Italian white certificates: the new rules

Italian white certificates guidelines

As thoroughly illustrated in my papers presented at ECEEE and IEPPEC 2018 conferences, the Italian white certificates scheme (WhC) has been facing in the last years serious issues, related to the lack of certificates to cover the scheme’s target, skyrocketing market prices, frauds with simplified (standard) energy saving assessment procedures, etc. In order to deal with such issues the Ministry of economic development issued decree D.M. 10 maggio 2018 to modify the WhC guidelines introduced in 2017. The presentation held at Ponti 2018 event in Bolzano briefly describes the main changes.

The Italian WhC scheme has been working since 2005, delivering more than 26 million tons of oil equivalent cumulated by the end of 2017. Despite its longevity and success in terms of savings results, many issues have arisen in the last years, due to a mix of factors: stricter and more complex rules, reduction of low hanging fruits, especially in the industrial sector, frauds, market rules and cost recovery mechanism. In my recent papers presented at ECEEE and IEPPEC conferences such issues are illustrated in details, together with the main rules, and the need of amendments is highlighted.

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White certificates in Italy: lessons learnt over 12 years of evaluation

additionality in the italian white certificates scheme

The peer-reviewed paper and the presentation on the lessons learnt over 12 years of evaluation on the Italian white certificate scheme  presented at the 2018 IEPPEC conference in Vienna. Both the main results and the issues arisen over the years are illustrated, together with a focus on the evaluation practices and outcomes.

Energy efficiency obligation schemes (EEOs) are used in many EU countries as a policy measure to reach energy efficiency targets. Some of the first EEO (UK, Italy, France, Denmark) have been capable to reach positive results over the years, as shown by the ENSPOL and EPATEE projects. Continue reading →

White certificates as a tool to promote energy efficiency in industry

white certificates issued per sector in italy

The peer-reviewed paper and the presentation on the Italian white certificate scheme as a tool to promote energy efficiency presented at the 2018 eceee conference in Berlin. Both the main results and the issues arisen over the years are illustrated, together with a focus on the industrial sector.

Energy efficiency obligation schemes (EEOs) are used in many EU countries as a policy measure to reach energy efficiency targets. Some of the first EEOs (UK, Italy, France, Denmark) have been capable to reach positive results over the years, as clearly demonstrated by the ENSPOL project. The Italian mechanism, in particular, is an interesting example of white certificate scheme (WhC), since it is one of the most long-lasting schemes (operatively started in 2005), has ambitious targets, covers all sectors and energy efficiency solutions, and has many flexibility options in place (e.g. non-obliged parties, tradable market, bankability, etc.).
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White certificate at Germany G7 meeting

The presentation held at the Germany G7 meeting in Berlin about the Italian white certificate scheme. The ENSPOL project was also presented, as example of cooperation among countries and of a platform to allow an exchange of best practices, capable of supporting policy makers in creating new incentive schemes or improving the existing ones.