Italian Small Wind Growing with Feed-in Tariffs

Paul Gipe, Contributor
November 27, 2012 | 14 Comments

The installation of small wind turbines is growing rapidly in Italy since the introduction of feed-in tariffs, according to a report by the Department of Engineering at Milan's Polytechnical University (Politecnico di Milano Dipartimento di Ingegneria Gestionale).

Since the introduction of feed-in tariffs for small wind turbines in 2008, installations have grown exponentially says the University's Wind Energy Report.

In absolute terms, installed capacity of small wind turbines in Italy, like that in Great Britain, remain a fraction of that of commercial-scale turbines. By the end of 2011 cumulative capacity of small wind in Italy was 13 MW, or 2% of the 6,700 MW of wind generating capacity in the country.

Yet installed capacity of small wind doubled from 2008 to 2009 and again in 2010 and 2011. Up to 10 MW may be installed in 2012, says the report.

More than 90% of the turbines are less 80 kW in size. The majority of the capacity, 70%, is installed in the southern provinces, 25% in the central region, and only 5% in the mountainous north.

In 2011, Italy installed more than twice as much small wind generating capacity as the US relative to its population. The same will likely be the case in 2012.

Feed-in tariffs have proven effective for rapidly developing new small wind generating capacity. In North America, only Nova Scotia and Vermont have effective feed-in tariffs for small wind. Most of the US uses a mix of state and federal subsidies in combination with net-metering.

Italian feed-in tariffs for small wind are quite lucrative, effectively double that of total payments for commercial wind under Italy's Green Certificate (Certificati Verdi) system. Yet, Italian small wind tariffs are comparable to those in Britain and other countries.

New tariffs go into effect at the end of the year. Italy will differentiate small wind into two size tranches: <20 kW, and 20 kW to 200 kW. While the tariffs have been cut modestly, the contract term has been extended from 15 years to 20 years.

Extending the term of the contract offers a substantial financial benefit, assuming that the turbines can stay in operation that long. There are fleets of wind turbines in California more than 25 years old. However, the turbines in California are all professionally maintained.

Small wind in Italy is now nearly 50% more expensive than the most expensive solar PV per kilowatt-hour of generation.

According to the University's Wind Energy Report, 3% of the Italy's land area has average wind speeds of greater than 6 m/s or good to excellent wind, 37% has average wind speeds from 4 m/s to 6 m/s or sites with good wind. The report quotes the Italian wind energy association (Associazone Natzionale Energia dal Vento), that Italy has the potential for 1,000 MW of small wind capable of generating 1.5-2 TWh per year. For comparison, solar PV generated more than 10 TWh in 2011.

Lead image: Small wind turbines via Shutterstock

14 Comments

aldo cattano
November 29, 2012

hello, I am an italian mini wind turbine designer and I am part of the mini wind turbine association. why the state did a so strange regulation?
different reasons:
-in Italy the wind sites for megawatt wind turbines are almost finished!
- In Italy the state would like to help the producers of mini wind turbines to grow, anyway these subsidies will go on only till we reach 80 MW, after that there will be a nig change! so no harm for all the people that have to pay the electricity bill.
- mini wind turbines produce energy at low voltage so in south of Italy , where the grid is not so stable, it's good to have a decentralized power systems, that stabilize the grid. Italy is the only state where all houses have a smart electricity meter and every mini wind turbine can be switched off from the state as they need.
-I hope that we will be succesful in the future to export our turbines in the world! So that each farmer can buy his own elecricity!

Anumakonda Jagadeesh
November 28, 2012

Reply to Buck:

In India some Wind chargers were put up in urban areas which hardly functioned! I am talking out of experience of over 35 years in Wind Field.Urban areas mean more obstacles(tall buildings).
You write:
Any where the wind blows my friend makes sense...
Don't you know that there are 3 wind velocities that are in the operation of a wind turbine: Cut-in speed, Rated Speed and Cut out speed. Power is having cubic relationship with velocity of wind. As such mere wind is not enough to get reasonable power. It should be at least medium (on an annual average) to do justice for wind turbine installation!
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India
Wind Energy Expert
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

ANONYMOUS
November 28, 2012

I could generate electricity renewably by having a hoard of hamsters running in hamster wheels and perhaps the Italian government will establish a feed-in tariff of $10,000 per kWh so I can turn a marginal profit. Buck would likely say this is a blow to big energy companies and applaud my hamster-powered electricity-generation scheme. Italian rate payers might have a different perspective when they open their electricity bills though. Not every renewable scheme makes sense so maybe the FIT schemes should not guarantee that all of them can make profits. Markets usually do a better job of determining which approaches have merit than government regulators do.

I don't, incidentally, share Buck's aversion to all big companies. Often big companies have the scale to provide services more affordably and more reliably than smaller suppliers.
Steven

BUCK SHAW
November 28, 2012

I guess I'm out of my leage here. I'm for the true independance that everyone seems to preach. But you all still want the big companies to controll your energy. Sorry but it doesn't make sence to me. So I'll beg my leave, shake my head in missunderstanding and figure I stepped in IT. A Vorte' Sante'

Bob Wallace
November 28, 2012

Buck, I've spent some time around small wind turbines and small wind turbines are annoying. While the ugliest baby may be beautiful in the eyes of doting parents others can see the ugly.

I don't think it right to subject others to small wind turbines in their midst. I extend that to large wind turbines as well. Zoning/siting regulations should require locations reasonably far away from the non-owner.

Then you're left with the financial problem. The wind industry finds larger and taller produces more power per dollar spent. Small wind, as far as I can determine, does not make financial sense. Except in remote off the grid situations.

BUCK SHAW
November 28, 2012

Dear Sir;

You make my point perfectly. I'm truly sorry that you don't understand. You are the one small wind is fighting against. If you look hard you might see a tree or two in the forrest. "Small Wind Turbines make sense in remote areas and in areas which are not connected to grid mostly in Rural areas in developing countries but not for places like San Francisco,Canberra,Tokyo,Munich etc." Any where the wind blows my friend makes sense...

Anumakonda Jagadeesh
November 28, 2012

Reply to Buck:
Small Wind Turbines make sense in remote areas and in areas which are not connected to grid mostly in Rural areas in developing countries but not for places like San Francisco,Canberra,Tokyo,Munich etc. Nobody can deny the fact that Wind Is intermittent. Of course most of the Renewables are the same with a degree of variation.
You talk of shadow effect from Wind Turbine. Strange! People oppose Coal plants because of pollution, Nuclear Plants because of Waste Disposal and Solar because of low efficiency and exorbitant cost etc. How to get power to the millions if not billions in a power starved globe? There must be a rationale in the choice of power. As our Noted Scientist Dr.H.J.Bhabha optly put it,"No power is costlier than no power".
Put the RENEWABLES to WORK: To get inexhaustible,pollution-free energy which cannot be misused.
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
Wind Energy Expert
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

BUCK SHAW
November 28, 2012

San Francisco had a rapid permiting process for 3.2KW home systems 5 were installed and citizens complained the shadows on the ground were bothering them. The permits were prompley removed. Thus ends progress in the most screwed up city in the world. California building codes are the most regressive towards small wind in the world. PV is the golden child. Don't look for small wind or urban off the grid anytime soon. Experimental small wind in ones backyard, forget it. Even in this coment section up above some pregidice commentor negates the for fun small wind idea.

V. Bruce Stenswick
November 28, 2012

Here is my idea for incentives. Decide how much you want installed each month, set a FIT or tax credit that seems appropriate, then adjust it down if too much is installed and adjust it upward if not enough is installed. This should be done monthly with limitations on how much it can be adjusted. This would be tied to long term goals of CO2 reductions.

ANONYMOUS
November 28, 2012

I cannot comment directly on the subject of this article. The practicality of small wind for residential use is beyond my ken.

However, I have noticed in recent years an uptick in the number of small wind turbines installed on the small boats which ply the world's oceans. Whereas the area where I live seems typically to have very light winds, the oceans seem to have much more frequent, and stronger, winds. Having small wind turbines on small boats must be practical, since the practice has become so ubiquitous.

Anumakonda Jagadeesh
November 28, 2012

Good to know this.
Next to their reputation for mechanically pumping water and grinding grain, wind turbines are best known for their ability to generate power off-the-grid at remote sites. They've distinguished themselves in this role for decades. During the 1930s, when only 10 percent of North American farms were served by electricity, literally thousands of small wind turbines were in use, primarily on the American Great Plains. These home light plants provided the only source of electricity to homesteaders in the days before the rural electrification brought electricity to all.
That's not true everywhere. There may be as many as 100,000 small wind turbines in use by nomadic herdsmen in northwestern China. These small turbines (so small they can be carted on horseback from one encampment to another) are the sole source of power available on the Asian Great Plains that stretch from China to the Soviet Union .
There are numerous applications for low-power, off-the-grid systems where battery storage isn't required. One classic application is the cathodic protection of pipelines where a small wind turbine provides an electric charge to the surface of the metal pipe. The charge counteracts galvanic corrosion in highly reactive soils. Storage isn't needed during calm winds because corrosion is a slow process that occurs over long periods. Eventually, the wind returns and again protects the exposed metal. All cathodic protection in rural areas was, at one time, provided by wind turbines. Today, pipelines primarily use small PV modules for cathodic protection, but wind machines are making a comeback .In other cases, small batteries may be necessary for proper operation of the windcharger and for storing small amounts of charge for windless periods. Two examples are the powering of walklights and the charging of electric fences .One popular low-power application is the charging of batteries on sailboats.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

Anumakonda Jagadeesh
November 27, 2012

One-third of the world's people live without electricity. In China alone, half the population lives without access to utility power. Many Third World nations are scrambling to expand their power systems to meet the demand for rural electrification. Most are following the pattern set by the developed world: build new power plants and extend power lines from the cities to rural areas. However, with the advent of reliable hybrid power systems using wind and solar energy, this approach to rural electrification doesn't make as much sense today as in the past.
Developing nations will find it more cost-effective, says Mike Bergey, to install hybrid power systems rather than to stretch heavily loaded, and often unreliable, central-station power from the large cities. Though these hybrid systems generate little power in comparison to central power plants, Third World villages need little power. One kilowatt-hour of electricity provides 10 times more services in India than it does in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Hybrid power systems featuring small wind turbines, because of their relative low cost, enable strapped governments to get power into villages quickly. As the central power system expands to these villages, the hybrid systems can be removed and sent on to even more remote villages.
The strategy works in the developed world as well. Rather than pay for line extensions to remote farms in the foothills of the Pyrenees, France at one time paid for installation of hybrid wind and solar systems.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
Wind Energy Expert
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

ANONYMOUS
November 27, 2012

This is a prime example of the flaws in European-style feed-in tariffs: some committee sets tariff rates for every technology and at size niche so that they are profitable and uses ratepayers as the cash cow to fund their whims. This type of top-down control does not reflect underlying economics and isn't particularly accountable to those forced to provide the funding. Small wind is only competitive in off-grid applications (a limited market) and in places where Governments fund it without regard for the relative efficiency of the technology as compared to other renewables (such as large scale wind and solar PV).

Wind turbines that are close to the ground have a significantly different energy production vs. the time of day when compared to turbines that are mounted high up (close to the ground you typically see a peak in the middle of the day, whereas energy production from those mounted high up typically peaks in the late evening). There might be isolated circumstances where this is an important consideration, although in most instances if you need energy at midday PV (especially in sunny Italy) is a better candidate than small wind.
Steven

Bob Wallace
November 27, 2012

Is this a smart way to spend money? It seems that the commercial wind industry is building larger and larger turbines and mounting them higher. Does it make sense to mount a lot of small turbines close to the ground?

Just doesn't feel like an efficient use of funds....

Add Your Comments

To add your comments you must sign-in or create a free account.

paul gipe

Paul Gipe has written extensively about renewable energy for both the popular and trade press. He has also lectured widely on wind energy and how to minimize its impact on the environment and the communities of which it is a part. For his...