Renewables and the RED II Directive: new provisions on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources in Italy come into force

Three years after the adoption of the European Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (the so-called RED II Directive), Italy has finally equipped itself with a new regulatory framework through which to concretely start the so-called ecological transition.

The declared objective of the Decree is to 'accelerate the country's path of sustainable growth, laying down provisions on energy from renewable sources, consistent with the European objectives for the decarbonisation of the energy system by 2030 and complete decarbonisation by 2050'.

Specifically, Italy intends to achieve a minimum target of 30 per cent of gross final consumption by way of energy from renewable sources. 

In order to achieve this ambitious goal, the Decree 'defines the tools, mechanisms, incentives and the institutional, financial and legal framework, necessary to achieve the objectives of increasing the share of energy from renewable sources at 2030, in implementation of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and in compliance with the criteria provided in Law no. 53 of 22 April 2021'.

In addition, as hoped for, the Decree contains a series of coordination rules to fully implement the measures of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) on energy from renewable sources, in accordance with the Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate (PNIEC).

As is well known, in fact, Mission 2 of the NRRP has (also) allocated significant resources to the renewable energy sector, in order to further enhance its development and diffusion, and the Decree takes into account the objectives already set therein, in order to promote their concrete implementation and allow the actual investment of the sums allocated.  

With the Decree Italy has, therefore, equipped itself with a set of coordinated measures and instruments, already oriented to the updating of the national objectives to be established pursuant to Regulation (EU) no. 2021/1119, with the so-called FIT for 55 Package, in which a binding objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% with respect to 1990 levels by 2030 is envisaged for the European Union.

As mentioned, the Decree is mainly considered as the regulatory framework within which the Minister of Ecological Transition, in the first instance, will have to - with a series of his own decrees - concretely implement the instruments and mechanisms already established by the Legislator. With reference to sectors of primary importance, the Decree sets a deadline of 180 days from its entry into force, within which the implementation and implementation methods of the aforementioned instruments and mechanisms must be defined, for the effective promotion of energy from renewable sources.

It will therefore be necessary to wait hopefully no later than the end of the first half of 2022, in order to be able to examine more fully and exhaustively the regulatory instruments actually put in place.

In the meantime, the following is an initial general examination of the main provisions of the Decree, with the examination of individual mechanisms, procedures or incentives that appear to be of particular relevance and interest being postponed to subsequent in-depth analyses.  Download the complete insight in Italian here.