This study performed an LCA of the Italian electricity mix, both current (2021) and future (according to the scenario defined in PNIEC Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan) have been analysed.

The aim of this study is twofold:

– On one hand to inform on the evolution of the impacts of such a relevant sector and to assess the impacts of the energy plans defined in the project “Energy scenarios” from which this study stems.
– On the other hand, to make available to LCA practitioners in the Italian context a dataset representative of the Italian electricity mix, both present and future.

The comparison between current mix and the scenario in 2030 shows that the decarbonisation plan is effective in reducing GHG emission also from an LCA point of view, mainly because direct emissions represent still a major contribution of the GHG emission in the electricity sector. The decarbonisation of the electricity mix comes along with the reduction of impacts in all impact categories, but resource consumption.

The major player in the electricity transition is solar power, which has a relevant role in resource consumption. The way photovoltaic power is modelled in Ecoinvent is outdated and does not represent the Italian situation anymore. In this study the photovoltaic power has been modelled adding technologies and updating the existing ones. The results shows that the dataset available in the Ecoinvent database overestimate impacts of photovoltaic generation. This is mainly because dataset relies on data from 2021, and they are too old for a sector that is rapidly evolving.

Considering the geopolitical situation, a second element of development concerned the modelling of natural gas and electricity imports for the 2030 scenarios.

The Report is available on the Italian site