Italy: Conto Termico financed through Levy on Natural Gas Tariffs

Conto Termico, the national subsidy scheme for energy efficiency and small renewable heat plants, is far behind the expected budget. The official figures by the programme´s administrator, Gestore dei Servizi Energetici, show that, by the end of 2017, resources available in 2018 for public bodies are around 198 out of 200 million EUR and resources available for private persons and companies are about 688 out of 700 million EUR (source: http://www.gse.it).
The incentive scheme has been recently revised and a new version of the support mechanism, Conto Termico 2.0, is now in place.

 

Country / region

Italy

Name of programme

Mechanism of Renewable Heating Systems and Energy Efficient Measures (small size) – “Conto termico 2.0”

Type of incentive

Rebate (not calculated on the investment cost but from an expected performance level)

Eligible technologies

Solar hot water systems (also including solar process heat and solar district heating), solar space heating, solar cooling; also concentrating solar collectors are eligible

Applicable sectors

Public and private entities with existing buildings

Amount

The incentive is paid in 2 annual instalments for systems below 50 m2 and in 5 annual instalments for systems above 50 m2 and up to 2,500 m2 (maximum threshold).

The yearly instalment is calculated as follows:

Ia tot = Ci •Qu• Sl

where Sl refers to the system’s gross area, Ci is a parameter ranging from 0.09 to 0.43 depending on the system size and application, and Qu is the annual collector yield (as reported on the Solar Keymark certificate for Würzburg at a temperature dependent on the application) divided by the gross area of the collector.

Maximum incentive

Solar heating and cooling installations are financed up to a maximum of 2,500 m² of gross collector area and up to 65 % of the investment cost. If the calculated incentive is higher than this threshold, then it is automatically lowered to cover the 65 % of the total system cost.

Requirements for system

Collectors/systems certified with EN12975 or EN12976. Collectors must be certified also Solar Keymark.

Collectors must meet minimum values for their efficiency curves and systems must meet minimum values for their expected annual yield.

Requirements for installation

No

Finance provider

Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE):
http://www.gse.it/it/Conto%20Termico/Pages/default.aspx

Total funds

EUR 900 million, of which EUR 200 million are reserved for public institutions and EUR 700 million for private entities. When this amount is fully used, the available budget will be revised.

Funding source

Levy on natural gas tariffs

Effective date

January 2013

Expiration date

No expiration date foreseen. An annual revision is carried out by GSE.

Website

http://www.gse.it/it/Conto%20Termico/Pages/default.aspx

Last review of this tabloid

November 2017

Contact

Gestore dei Servizi Energetici GSE S.p.A.
Renewable department
Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, 92 – 00197 Roma 
rinnovabili@gse.it

 

Baerbel Epp

Bärbel Epp is Founder and Director of the German communication and market research agency solrico and editor-in-chief of solarthermalworld.org