The decarbonisation of the Italian electric sector: impact and costs of proposable solutions

The growing global concern about climate change is pushing all countries to plan energy policies targeted to ever less environmental impact. In this context, the European Union has set very ambitious goals for 2030. Various scenarios were built and designed to achieve these 2030 targets in Europe and in Italy; in these scenarios the member states plan to increase renewable energy penetration and to improve energy efficiency, but these targets require many investments. In this paper different scenarios proposed for Italy, derived from European Union elaborations (EUCO) and the National Energy Strategy (NES), are analysed comparatively with the aim of quantifying the economic burden associated with the expected reduction of CO2 emissions. In the light of the costs calculated, this paper will propose other alternative configurations of the electricity sector, equally virtuous in environmental terms, but less impacting to economic level. Results show that the complete elimination of coal, as provided for by NES, is not as beneficial as other scenarios; however, it is clear that the key parameter for granting favourable performances is energy efficiency, in a way in which both renewable and non-renewable sources are used achieving the highest environmental objectives at the lowest cost.