Installing a photovoltaic system on Italian territory offers without any doubt economic benefits, such as:

• Incentives awarded by the “Feed-in Tariff Scheme”;
• Savings set aside for not utilizing energy from the national grid

Thanks to the law establishing the feed-in tariff scheme, in Italy every Kwe  of energy produced by photovoltaic modules is rewarded.

In order to benefit from these incentives, the power of the system has to be above 1 Kwe and connected to the national grid. Therefore, stand-alone photovoltaic systems cannot benefit from the feed-in tariff scheme.

This scheme rewards grid-connected owners of photovoltaic systems for each Kwe that is produced; the incentive varies according to power and system type, as shown in the table below.

For 20 years, system owners can enjoy the following benefits beginning from the date on which the photovoltaic system starts operating.

Download GSE's GUIDE to feed in tariff scheme

SAVING ENERGY

The immediate economic benefit of installing a photovoltaic system certainly consists in savings set aside by not utilizing electricity from the national grid, as well as by feeding an amount of energy into the national grid.

Based on installed power, photovoltaic systems have different types of feed-in energy grids. In detail:

• Systems ranging from 1kWe <= P <= 200 kWe: Feed-in energy can be controlled through "Net metering."

"Net metering service (hereinafter also SSP) is a specific type of on-site self consumption that allows to offset the energy produced and fed into the grid with energy retrieved and used at a different time than when it was actually produced. In net metering therefore the electric system is used as a tool to virtually store away electricity that is not used at the same time it is produced." (from TUP- Testo Unico Ricognitivo della Produzione Elettrica- )

• Systems from 200 kWe <= P <=1000 kWe: Feed-in energy can be controlled through "Dedicated Withdrawal."

Transferring energy is compensated by "Guaranteed Minimum Prices"

Hence, for systems that run on renewable sources with an electric nominal power up to 1 MW as stated in Article 7, Paragraph 7.5 of Authority resolution Nr. 280/07, the guaranteed minimum prices, updated for 2010 according to criteria provided in the mentioned paragraph), are as follows:

Up to 500,000 kWh per year                                                  101.8 €/MWh 
From above 500,000 kWh to 1,000,000 kWh per year            85.8 €/MWh 
From above 1,000,000 kWh to 2,000,000 kWh per year         75.0 €/MWh

"Dedicated withdrawal means feeding electricity into the grid through enabled systems. It features simple procedures and has to be requested by the producer of energy. As an alternative to the free market, dedicated withdrawal offers economical market conditions. Furthermore, dedicated withdrawal envisages simplifications, whilst incentives are established in ordinary legislative procedure. ( Hence, earnings from the sale of electricity, thus through dedicated withdrawal as well, are generally added to earnings from possible incentives, except when comprehensive fixed prices are applied, which already include incentives for electricity fed into the grid.” (from TUP- Testo Unico Ricognitivo della Produzione Elettrica- )

• For systems above 1000 kWe, feed-in energy can be regulated by “Dedicated Withdrawal.” Transferring energy is rewarded according to "Free Market Regulation".

"Dedicated withdrawal means feeding electricity into the grid through enabled systems. It features simple procedures and has to be requested by the producer of energy. As an alternative to the free market, dedicated withdrawal offers economical market conditions. Furthermore, dedicated withdrawal envisages simplifications, whilst incentives are established in ordinary legislative procedure. ( Hence, earnings from the sale of electricity, thus through dedicated withdrawal as well, are generally added to earnings from possible incentives, except when comprehensive fixed prices are applied, which already include incentives for electricity fed into the grid.” (from TUP- Testo Unico Ricognitivo della Produzione Elettrica- )