Page 14 - RSE Energia elettrica anatomia costi
P. 14
summary
The use of electricity is an important indicator of the economic
development and level of welfare attained by a country. Both the
overall consumption of electricity and consumption levels per capita
are clearly correlated with the GDP and other indicators of macro -
economic development used for estimating the quality of life of the
inhabitants.
EU-27 countries are placed in a high-end in terms of price of elec -
tricity and is easy to understand how the Italian prices, well above
the European average, are a critical factor for Italy.
The aim of this publication is therefore to clearly describe the
structure and mechanisms of formation of so high electricity prices
in Italy, analyzing the related reasons and suggesting actions that
could help to change the situation, even if in a medium-long term
perspective, typical of the electricity system.
In this light, the cost of generation of key technologies used in
the Italian electricity system are compared, referring to the Level -
ized Cost of Electricity (LCOE): i.e. the price at which it is necessary
to sell the power generated from a plant of each technology, over its
life, to cover all costs related to its construction and operation (finan -
cial charges and taxes included) and get a given investment return.
In order to take into account environmental externalities, the
study of RSE uses a fast method, developed by the European Agency
for the Environment, which allows to evaluate, in monetary terms,
the social damage due to air pollutants having both local and region -
al effects, as well as air pollutants with a global-scale impact like the
greenhouse effect.
Since the composition of the power generation fleet evolves with
a time constant of a few decades, as it is related to the life of plants,
it is almost impossible to completely describe the economic situ
-
ation of an electrical system, where several generations of power
plants coexist. The study, then, is based necessarily on simplifying
assumptions, and determines the cost of generation with a LCOE cal -
culated for new constructions and with the costs of fuel, materials,
labor and investment at today values. This means that the analysis
is more a qualitative assessment of the energy strategy rather than
an economic evaluation related to the present status, but it helps to
understand what is the weight of the various sources on the costs to
the Italian end-customer, both current and in prospective.
Through a comparison among the electricity mixes of other
countries, in particular of the EU, it is possible to understand the
causes of the observed gap between the Italian prices and those of
other nations. As a matter of fact, the consistency and trend of net
energia elettrica, anatomia dei costi 13
The use of electricity is an important indicator of the economic
development and level of welfare attained by a country. Both the
overall consumption of electricity and consumption levels per capita
are clearly correlated with the GDP and other indicators of macro -
economic development used for estimating the quality of life of the
inhabitants.
EU-27 countries are placed in a high-end in terms of price of elec -
tricity and is easy to understand how the Italian prices, well above
the European average, are a critical factor for Italy.
The aim of this publication is therefore to clearly describe the
structure and mechanisms of formation of so high electricity prices
in Italy, analyzing the related reasons and suggesting actions that
could help to change the situation, even if in a medium-long term
perspective, typical of the electricity system.
In this light, the cost of generation of key technologies used in
the Italian electricity system are compared, referring to the Level -
ized Cost of Electricity (LCOE): i.e. the price at which it is necessary
to sell the power generated from a plant of each technology, over its
life, to cover all costs related to its construction and operation (finan -
cial charges and taxes included) and get a given investment return.
In order to take into account environmental externalities, the
study of RSE uses a fast method, developed by the European Agency
for the Environment, which allows to evaluate, in monetary terms,
the social damage due to air pollutants having both local and region -
al effects, as well as air pollutants with a global-scale impact like the
greenhouse effect.
Since the composition of the power generation fleet evolves with
a time constant of a few decades, as it is related to the life of plants,
it is almost impossible to completely describe the economic situ
-
ation of an electrical system, where several generations of power
plants coexist. The study, then, is based necessarily on simplifying
assumptions, and determines the cost of generation with a LCOE cal -
culated for new constructions and with the costs of fuel, materials,
labor and investment at today values. This means that the analysis
is more a qualitative assessment of the energy strategy rather than
an economic evaluation related to the present status, but it helps to
understand what is the weight of the various sources on the costs to
the Italian end-customer, both current and in prospective.
Through a comparison among the electricity mixes of other
countries, in particular of the EU, it is possible to understand the
causes of the observed gap between the Italian prices and those of
other nations. As a matter of fact, the consistency and trend of net
energia elettrica, anatomia dei costi 13
