Five false myths about renewables, between prejudices and lies. What to do to not miss the European train – Corriere.it

Italians and renewables. There are several cultural prejudices on the subject and we know little about them. But why are we so behind in Italy in understanding that our energy present-future can only pass through renewables? To know this, it would be enough to know, to disassemble them, the five “False myths about renewables”, unveiled a few days ago, at the home of the energy of the future, on the occasion of the three-day fair in Rimini of the “K.EY – The Energy Transition Expo ”. The “false myths” have been sought, analyzed and denied in the campaign of “Italy for Climate” (), the study center of the Foundation for sustainable development, in partnership with Enea and Ispra. They range from “renewables are and will remain marginal” to “renewables cost too much”, passing through two almost unconscious fears – “they keep us in the dark” and “they ruin the landscape” – up to the false “renewables are bad for the economy and employment”.

Italy and the production of clean energy: we are no longer European leaders. The alarm was raised by “Italy for Climate”, whose campaign against the 5 false myths about renewables was presented and discussed during “K.EY – The Energy Transition Expo” in Rimini

Cursed renewables? Judging by the slowness with which we have installed millions of kilowatt hours from 2005 to today, it would seem so, dropping steeply – except for a 2011 a little more sprint -, and registering, last year (despite a theoretically favorable contingent situation due to high fossil fuel prices), just over 35 percent of national production, the lowest figure since 2014. A completely different “race” compared to Europe: from another table, we discover, in fact, that Germany has 11 gigawatt hours of power unleashed by wind and photovoltaic plants installed last year, while Italy is lagging behind registering only 3.

Shortage of raw materials

But where do these false myths about renewables come from, which ended up in an Italy for Climate platform as early as the end of last year? «They arise above all from widespread disinformation and against which something must be done»replies Chiara Montanini, project manager of Italy for Climate, whose study center has invited some experts on the subject to the Rimini meeting, asking them to dismantle the five prejudices. Carlo Papa, managing director of the Enel Foundation, had to debunk the first of the “false myths”, the one according to which renewables are and will remain marginal. «When we deal with energy and renewables, we often say that the lack of raw materials penalizes our race for renewables. And to do it, cobalt is often mentioned. Well, now we know however that cobalt can also be obtained in the laboratory, by making cobalt-free batteries».

No one will be left in the dark

Then there is another aspect on which we need to reflect. And it concerns investments in existing networks: «Many believe that renewables will remain marginal because the investment to make existing networks suitable for a hosting capacity will be really huge: but it’s not true! Investment in networks over the next 10 years will have low costs». But will renewables keep us in the dark? Here it is the second fear in the form of a question, to turn to Luigi Mazzocchi, director of the Research and energy system department, according to which five slides may be enough to explain. «We are slowly replacing energy from fossil sources with natural energy between now and 2030: but in seven years it does not mean that the gas supply will disappear altogether; a small amount will remain, to be used if needed. Then we will have programmable renewables: such as hydroelectricity, bioenergy and storage (more or less, 12,000 megawatts)», explains Mazzocchi, for whom there cannot be moments of black-out when talking about renewables. Not even if the planet’s current level of insolation were to “disappear”: «No, because we have other resources: on the contrary, it is the consumer who will be able to have his say. How? By modulating one’s energy load according to consumption needs».

Let’s do the math

For the third last slide, where there is a projection of renewables to 2050, it seems to be witnessing the triumph of renewables: «It’s all a matter of peaks, from 140,000 kilowatts». One wonders: all right, it’s all very nice, but this battery of renewables available, how will it translate into our bill? «Let’s say right away that to make our projection to 2030 real, we will need an investment of 34 billion: now, if we divided this figure by 10 years, the minimum survival time of a storage network (but they can last much longer), we would have 3.4 billion», observes the director of the Rse department, who, continuing with his calculations, he adds: «If we divided the 3.4 billion by the entire amount of energy produced and sold, we would have 80 euros per megawatt hour; the price of gas today is 50 euros per megawatt hour, but adding the quotas of CO2 that we consume, and which we therefore have to pay, we would have a cost of 113 euros per megawatt hour».

Renewables and work

«Renewables are bad for the economy and for employment». Really? This time the false myths touch on a very delicate topic: the world of work. «An in-depth study by Intesa Sanpaolo was recently published on the renewable energy supply chain, everywhere in strong growth and with a slowdown, of 2%, only in the midst of the pandemic: but in the same period the heavy industry supply chain recorded a production decrease of more than 10 percent. All this to say that «renewables are not bad for the economy», explains Agostino Re Rebaudengo, president of Elettricità Futura. What about the relationship between renewables and jobs? «There are 800 Italian excellences in the production of renewables. Not only. Since the goal for 2030 is to reach 85 Gigawatts, it is conceivable to think that to get there we may need 600,000 new jobs».

The cost of the energy transition

From jobs to the cost of renewables. Because, here we go again, among the False myths we also find this: «Renewables cost too much». To find out if it is true or false, it will be better to listen to the opinion of Alessandro Marangoni, CEO of Althesys: «False. And to understand why, just make a comparison between investments in renewables and that in primary sources, both before and after the health and energy emergency». Going into more detail: «From 2010 to today, if we see how much it costs to install a megawatt in wind and photovoltaic power, we discover that the curves are steeply downward, especially for wind power». A great premise, but what if we compared these curves to the primary sources? «The costs of renewables are dropping almost steeply, while for coal, for example, the graph shows a real take-off in prices».

Between investments and accumulation systems

So far, the overview of costs and investments up to 2019. And after theannus horribilis? «Almost no match: in that investment in renewables continues to be the cheapest. However, it is clear that skeptics could object: in order for a system to hold up, I have to make sure that there are other components, such as storage systems, that are equally up to par. And here too the tune hasn’t changed: with lithium batteries the protagonists of a drop in costs of 75 per cent in the last eight years», replies Marangoni.

Nobody touches the landscape

Costs, work and margins of renewables. Very important aspects to take into consideration, and sap for the deniers of the energy of the future. However, there is yet another false myth to debunk: “Renewables ruin the landscape”. True or false? «I would like to make a small premise: if there is one thing that will permanently devastate the landscape it is the climate crisis; but if we don’t intervene through renewables, which are a sort of antibody to this planetary virus, the Mediterranean landscape will be devastated» he replies Stefano Ciafani, president of Legambiente, for which unfortunately there is a whole series of works «to which we have practically closed our eyes»: reason for which, if we fear that, in Sulcis, in the South of Sardinia, several off-shore wind farm projects will take hold , «we end up not seeing and remembering that in Portoscuso, also in Sardinia, there is the chimney of a coal plant 250 meters high». The same could be said, adds Ciafani, for the wind-offshore projects on the Brindisi coast: “Around which an uproar is breaking out: but no one seems to see that 200-metre-high giant of the Cerano coal plant anymore”.

Renewables in the Vatican

Another question raised by the president of Legambiente is that of the construction of photovoltaic systems on the roofs of historic city centres: «Well, here too, if we really opened our eyes we would notice on the roofs: air conditioner motors, old antennas and antennas parabolic. So why has the superintendence never ruled on all this ‘belvedere’?». And again: «If it were possible to climb the Dome of St. Peter, we would see that on the roof of a work-monument such as the Sala Nervi, seat of the Pope’s Wednesday audiences, photovoltaic panels have been installed that do not disfigure the landscape at all. And we’re talking about a project that if it had been done 200 meters further on, no longer in the Vatican State, the Superintendence would certainly have blocked it».

The platform debunks fake news

Finally, thinking briefly, we see that Italy for Climate has managed to dismantle, with very few words, almost a tweet, the five false myths, starting with those who argue that “renewables are and will remain marginal”. False, why 8 out of 10 kilowatt hours supplied by electricity generation plants installed each year are produced with renewables: in just a few years, renewable sources have already changed the global energy landscape. «Renewables cost too much»? False. A kilowatt hour produced by wind or photovoltaic energy costs 5 euro cents, less than half compared to fossil and nuclear energy in Europe. Renewables were the cheapest sources even before the energy crisis. «Renewables keep us in the dark»? False. Already today there are countries that produce more than 90% of electricity from renewable sources, even in Europeand the number of governments aiming to do the same within the next decade is growing.

Fourteen million jobs

«Renewables ruin the landscape»? False. Only 0.7 percent of the national territory would be needed to replace all fossil fuel plants with photovoltaic panels: less than 200,000 hectares, one tenth of the area built up today in Italy. Finally, “are renewables bad for the economy and employment”? False. By 2030 there will be 14 million new jobs in the world, against the 5 million lost in oil & gas. Too bad, however, that despite warnings from the scientific world, fossil fuels still account for more than 80 percent of the world’s energy.