The Italian market of the renewable energies

The economic crisis and higher energy bills push Italian companies to cut costs and consumption by looking for new suppliers, improving and making more efficient processes and infrastructures, but also installing equipment to produce their own energy from renewable sources. The photovoltaic "boom" will continue next year. However the bureaucracy should be reduced and simplified, the funding easier, the customers better informed and ensure business ROI of the new plants.
Italian manufacturing companies spend on average 7% of busines costs to energy expense. Approximately all the companies have taken into consideration ways to reduce consumption and costs by changing suppliers, improving the efficiency of production processes and building or installing facilities to produce renewable energy (11%). This solution will grow by 50% within a year and it was at least considered by almost 80% of the industry with over 50 employees. The level of satisfaction of those companies that have adopted these solution is fairly high and is very high for companies that have set up plants for renewable energies. One thing very interesting nevertheless the level of satisfaction is not based on a "consolidate experience" since these technologies have been installed just 16 months. Larger companies and those that have less energy expenditure, are the most active in reducing the energy costs. 90% of the companies that installed a plant to produce renewable energy said to pay attention to these costs and many companies have not decided yet how to act. So there is a very large potential market for the supply of equipment for renewable, composed of 26.7% of the whole sector considered.
Photovoltaic, installed by 6% is the technology with the greatest potential for development; its installation has been considered by at least 60% of the sample interviewed.
Biomass is used by 3% of the sample and at least considered by only 5%. Just 1.3% has declared to have installed Thermal Solar but it was considered at least by 11%. The Micro-Wind and Geothermal are absend (0.7%) and only 3% has reported to have taken them into account. The plants were installed 16 months ago and they cover 1/3 of the energy need of the enterprises.
The main obstacles to the adoption of solutions to reduce energy consumption are mostly financial (70% has declared that they have other financial priorities, while 57% declared that to have problem to in get funding) and bureaucratic (55%).
There is a widespread difficulty in assessing the economic returns on investments (48%), concerns about the quality of the facilities (42%) and their actual usefulness to the environment (39%).
Less decisive is the fear on the functioning of the technology (34%).
The use of photovoltaic for electricity generation is the biggest business in the field of solar energy in Italy. In 2008 it reached a turnover of 1.1 billion euros, with an increase of 150% compared to 2007. With over 360 companies (74% are national) active in June 2009, the Italian market is very dynamic but highly fragmented. It is possible to estiamte the gross operating profit generated in 2008 by Italian companies in the photovoltaic sector about 180 millions euros. However the majority of the profits go to foreing operators (Japanese, German, American, Chinese and Taiwanese). The Italian manufacturing companies have taken into consideration the oportunity to exploit renewable energies: 11% of them have already installed the plants, 6% has already planned to have one; 37% has seriously taken into consideration this option; 24%has just evaluated and 22% not at all.

Solar thermal which has a percentage of installation very low - 1.3% - was considered at least by 11% and it is the second solution with the greatest potential for the future development.