pv magazine: Mr. Zingale, could you explain the present status of the Italian photovoltaic sector? Luca Zingale: With an almost 19 GW stock, the PV generation in Italy in 2014, around 23.5 TWh, is going to meet around 8% of the national electricity demand: a record achievement, indeed. A figure that is, at the same time, the indicator of the success of the technology in Italy and the origin of the strong political reaction which has come from the conventional energy side. We cannot but take account of the fact that, due to the end of direct feed-in incentives, the Italian PV sector has gone through a dramatic shrinking and consolidation phase. And that the figures of the new installations are still unsatisfactory, with the slow recovery of the domestic market being, at the same time, cause and effect of the projection of the largest Italian system integrators and EPCs on new markets like the U.K. or Romania, seeking again the "big numbers." But at the same time we see a living and dynamic PV industry which is reinventing itself by developing new applications, which will soon be boosted by the progress in energy storage solutions, targeting a series of new markets, applying new business models for the "navigation" in the post-incentive era. Needless to say, the new mindset required is based on the concept of self-consumption of auto-produced electricity. This approach is quickly gaining momentum in Italy, since it applies to all segments of the market: from the residential one, to the industrial SMEs and a variety of energy-intensive commercial users. At the same time the PV operators are widening their business portfolios: offering not just photovoltaics, but PV integrated with other efficient technologies like heat pumps or led lighting, or with micro-cogenerating units on the supply-side. We are actually witnessing a logical evolution of the PV business, towards an integrated approach with the domain of energy efficiency. pv magazine: How will Solarexpo-The Innovation Cloud deal with those market's changes? Zingale: Let me say that the 2015 edition will fully reflect this paradigm shift. We really did anticipate the recent evolution of the market: while keeping the focus on the original core of the solar technologies of Solarexpo, like PV, CPV, CSP and solar architecture, the event has evolved since 2013 into the multi-technological platform of Solarexpo-The Innovation Cloud: an exhibition targeting all renewable power sources, plus energy storage and smart grids as key enabling technologies for a high RES-penetration market like Italy. And more: NZEBs and smart buildings, e-mobility and smart city applications, energy efficiency in buildings, public administration and industry. All that presented in an environment of a true "hybridization" and cross-fertilization of technologies. This is why I invite the whole solar community to join us from 8 to 10 April in Milan, to get the right networking opportunities and gain market exposure in a fertile context of innovative solutions and new approaches to the grid parity markets. pv magazine: What new concrete opportunities for PV operators exist in Italy's grid-parity market? Zingale: There are many new opportunities for PV operators in Italy. I would start by pinpointing that, on the side of industrial and commercial plants, the Italian Energy Authority finally completed a new legal framework for a further step of liberalized ...Den vollständigen Artikel lesen ...