Abstract
The production of energy from renewable sources is a form of energy production that has less impact on the environment than the traditional one. For the farmer this new form of production represents an opportunity, especially for the economic benefits that can produce, both in terms of the incentives provided by the public operator and for higher revenues, deriving from the sale of energy back to the grid and/or the savings generated by self-consumed energy, that help to increase the farmer’s income. In this paper, we analyzed a case study of a farm that has realized a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system on a greenhouse. In particular, firstly the farm profitability has been estimated and subsequently, in order to assess the efficiency of the energy policy adopted by the Second Conto Energia in Italy, the minimum incentive tariff at which the entrepreneur has an economic advantage to realize a PV system has been determined. Results show that PV system relegates to a marginal role the cultivation of agricultural products compared to energy production and that government PV remuneration policies far outweigh the minimum threshold that makes the investment advantageous.
Highlights
In recent years, legislators have paid particular attention to the multifunctional role of the farm.The legislator’s goal is to increase the farm competitiveness through diversification of income opportunities
In order to evaluate the efficiency of Italian energy policy, first the profitability of a representative farm located in Sicilian northwestern coast that produces electricity by PV panels on greenhouse installed during the Second Conto Energia has been estimated
That exceeded the legislature’s expectations, we wanted to determine the minimum price of incentive tariff starting from which the entrepreneur finds it convenient to realize the investment. In this way we evaluated the efficiency of Italian energy policy, assessing if the PV incentive was reasonable compared to the goal of Second Conto Energia
Summary
Legislators have paid particular attention to the multifunctional role of the farm.The legislator’s goal is to increase the farm competitiveness through diversification of income opportunities. One should not forget that the farmer is required to produce agricultural products and the production of goods and services related to agriculture must be considered to supplements to his income or a way of reducing production costs [4,5]. Renewable energy sources such as hydropower, biomass, geothermal, wind and solar represent a viable alternative to traditional fossil fuels both for the benefits in terms of reduced impact on the environment and for their ability to be renewable and not subject to depletion [6,7]. The green energy, by limiting the consumption of fossil fuels and reducing the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributes to the achievement of targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, avoiding sanctions for signatory States in case of defaults [8]
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