District heating in Lombardy Region (Italy): Effects of supporting mechanisms

Abstract

Nowadays energy and environmental issues represent the main emergencies for all the governments, globally and locally. The importance of operating on the three levels of the energy system (by reducing energy demand; by optimizing generation and management and by integrating local renewable energy sources) has been strongly recognized. To that end urban neighborhoods could represent an optimal scale for the implementation of innovative energy strategies, despite barriers at the economic, regulatory and administrative level are still present.In recent years, as a result of an important agreement with the Italian Ministry of Environment, Lombardy Region has supported numerous measures for energy efficiency and renewable energy sources integration among its territory, including district heating plants. All the interventions were analyzed in the framework of a wider monitoring campaign aimed to evaluate effects, effectiveness, pros and cons of the several calls and programs. The financed district heating plants represent the case of studies described in the present paper.The most important characteristics, conditions and technical features of these interventions were analyzed. Globally we deal with 21 interventions distributed in the territory of Lombardy Region and fueled by fossil fuels, waste or biomass. The results obtained were described in terms of environmental, energy and economic performances, taking into account the public spending and the global investment costs. The main aim of the analysis is to comment the effectiveness of the adopted local energy policies and also to orient future policies toward the improvement of the energy and environmental performances of communities and territories.