Arrivederci Solare! Italy Pushes To Cut Solar Subsidies

Italy is about to join the growing list of European countries cutting back subsidies to solar and wind energy, so reports the online Berlin TAZ.

A complete stop to solar energy and deep cuts in wind energy: Italy’s government passed a decree that could spell an abrupt end in the recently started renewable energy boom.”

This comes at the heels of a number of countries cutting back on solar subsidies throughout Europe – mainly due to their high costs to consumers and technical problems integrating these sources into the existing infrastructure.

Economics Minister Paolo Romani says that Italian citizens have had to pay 6 billion euros in subsidies so far. The solar subsidies were originally planned for the period from 2011 to 2013, but now will remain in effect only for systems installed before June 1, 2011. The law also stops solar plants with a capacity of over 1 MW from being built in the open countryside due to “landscape protection issues”.

Other countries like Spain have also implemented similar stops to the overly expensive renewable energy sources.

Italian subsidies had guaranteed operators of small-scale systems €0.47/kwh and large scale systems €0.34 /kwh for feeding the energy into the grid. Italy will also reduce subsidies paid to wind power. The leftist TAZ writes:

Here subsidies will be cut by 22%, and done so retroactively and thus apply to systems that are also in operation. This would deal a fatal blow. When the government redefines the subsidy rates whenever and however it feels, it makes reliable investment plans impossible.”

Good riddance to the eyesores that have only drained the pockets of consumers. More reading:
Austerity – Pulling the plug on Europe’s green subsidies
Germany cuts solar subsidies
Danish wind-subsidies to be cut
Spain cuts solar subsidies
Dutch lose faith in windmills

11 responses to “Arrivederci Solare! Italy Pushes To Cut Solar Subsidies”

  1. mindert eiting

    My newspaper told that in The Netherlands the wind mill industry came to an halt.

  2. Marco

    Yes, it seems that Dutch are losing faith in the wind http://energiaadebate.com/the-dutch-lose-faith-in-windmills/
    About Italy: a final decision will be taken at the end of April. At that time it will be clear how drastic will be the reduction of incentives.
    Obviously the “green energy” lobby is screaming a lot.

  3. grayman

    The old saying “Build it and they will come”, for the profits. The powers that be were not thinking, or planning, when they decided on this boondoggle. If you are going to relie on this for power you should build the infrastructure first to handle the incoming electricity then build the solar and bird shredders, but no one ever said that the lobbys or politicos were smart, just greedy. If they would get thier head out of thier asses maybe they might hear some good ideas that have potential and could work for the benefit of the populace and not just the rich who saw a profit and did not care who were hurt by it!

  4. DirkH
  5. M White

    It would appear that the Mafia has gone green

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hTw16PnOenGLFffesOBjGr3TzfhQ

    “The seizure of a record 1.5 billion euros from a Sicilian businessman known as “Lord of the Wind” has put the spotlight on Mafia money-laundering through renewable energy ventures.”

    1. DirkH

      From the article:
      “”They steal money from the state and in addition they sell them the energy they produce. They win twice,” Ruggiero said.”

      I thought that was how renewable energy is *supposed* to work? 😉 Basically, the only crime of the mafiosi was money laundering…. the wind farms themselves did the same thing every wind farm does: pump consumers money into the owners pocket for an overprized good…

  6. R. de Haan

    Take another example.

    Spain!
    The country had the firs European Solar Power Bust that almost bankrupted the country and many of the solar investors who took bank loans to finance the purchase and really needed the feed in payments to survive.

    But today with no money in the bank thanks to huge deficits that probably lead to a default of the country in the third quarter of this year, you might think the Spanish Government has learned it’s lesson, yes?

    No, they reduced the driving speed on the Spanish highways, subsidize the purchase of fuel efficient car tires, replace all public lightning by energy efficient lightning and further promote green policies.
    Anything to please the new European regime, right?

    And we will be confronted with the bail out costs of Spain this year.

    Socialist Governments like the current government of Spain NEVER LEARN.

    They should have cut any subsidy and as much as possible spending until a healthy budget is reached.

    But who cares, they are spending other peoples money and thanks to the EU and Angela Merkel today, that will be OUR FREAKING MONEY.

    The USA is also run by an irresponsible lunatic.

    As a consequence we are going to need at least 5 trillion for US and EU funding over the next three years to keep the financial house of cards up in the air. I tell you we’re not going to make it.

    And I am not the only one:
    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/5-trillion-us-and-european-funding-needs-over-next-3-years-how-long-until-global-monetizatio

    And if the information provided by the link above doesn’t convince you, please read this:
    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/egon-von-greyerz-hyperinflationary-deluge-imminent-or-why-bernankes-motto-après-nous-le-délu

  7. Edward

    Meanwhile in the UK, we fall over ourselves to throw money at ‘sustainability’ boondoggling, the latest wheeze to scam the taxpayer is here:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/8364826/Homes-to-be-fitted-with-green-energy-meters.html

    An article on Channel 4 news [tonight Mar 7] – network TV, showed how the madness of using pelleted chips in Coal fired power stations is deforming the market [already] for manufacturers of furniture [who use chipboard in their products], another clip showed a thirty ton truck dumping it’s pellets into the hoppers of Drax power station, in readiness for the furnace. At the height of the cold spell in December, 300 trucks a day were delivering pellets – how green is that???

    Bonkers, effin bonkers and will it mean more land given over to growing such things as, MORE TREES – to go into coal power station furnaces – how stupid is that or how is this green? Plus land taken out of food production and given over to growing such crops as elephant grass etc.

    Good grief.

    All this as, planning permission is sought for a massive new windfarm off the Dorset “Jurassic coast” an area of England so beautiful and one that I dearly love [aesthetically and geologically], how can they even conceive of this gross act of vandalism for such a pointless fungus patch of white elephant turbines?? – The lunatics most definitely have taken over and are running the show in Britain.

    1. Jimbo

      Can you imagine what the emissions of those 300 trucks is per day? Imagine the soot from their exhausts. These greens are not green but mad!

  8. Nonoy Oplas

    In the Philippines, they intend to steal around PhP 10 B per year (around US$230 M/year at current exchange rate) in the form of mandatory subsidies to wind, solar and other renewables. We have one of the highest electricity rates in Asia already, and the renewable lobby succeeded in trying to make it even more expensive, through the new RE law passed in 2009, http://funwithgovernment.blogspot.com/2011/02/energy-rationing-and-climate-alarmism.html

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