Storage systems in Anie data: the market is improving, but there is still work to be done

Anie: work needs to be done on several fronts. On the one hand, speed up the authorisation process and, on the other, accelerate the reform of the dispatching services market (DSM) to give market operators the opportunity to support the business plan through revenue stacking.

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Anie energy

The update of the report "Osservatorio Sistemi di Accumulo" by Anie Rinnovabili, the association of ANIE Federationpresents the trend of energy storage installations in Italy recorded by Terna's Gaudรฌ system.

As stated in the Anie note accompanying the report: "We are a long way from the objectives set by the PNIEC for 2023: 1,000 MW of centralised storage, divided between electrochemical and pumpedstorage. Since it is unlikely that the new pumped storage will be able to come into service by that deadline, we have no choice but to rely on electrochemical storage to fill the gap. Work will have to be done on several fronts: on the one hand, speeding up the authorisation process and, on the other, accelerating the reform of the dispatching services market (MSD) to give market operators the opportunity to support the business plan with revenue stacking.

Data from the Anie Observatory

As of 31 March 2021, 43,784 storage systems had been installed. The total capacity of the storage systems installed is 212 MW for a maximum capacity of 333 MWh, in addition to Terna's systems totalling 60 MW and 250 MWh.

99.9% of installed storage systems are combined with a photovoltaic system and 92% of these are combined with a residential photovoltaic system. The number of stand-alone storage systems combined with thermal power plants, wind farms and fuel cells is only one.

The most common technology is Lithium-based (96.6% of the total) followed by Lead (3.1%) and Supercapacitor (0.1%). There are 48 flywheel batteries (0.1%).

La quasi totalitร  (98,6%) dei sistemi di accumulo รจ di taglia < 20 kWh con una netta prevalenza dei sistemi di capacitร  inferiore o uguale ai 5 kWh (42,6%) e di quelli compresi nel range tra 5 kWh e 10 kWh (40,5%).

Lombardy is the region with the highest number of installed systems (13,102 SdA for a power of 56 MW and a capacity of 94 MWh) followed by the Veneto Region (7,270 SdA for a power of 33 MW and a capacity of 57 MWh), the Emilia Romagna Region (4,605 SdA for a power of 24 MW and a capacity of 37 MWh) and Piedmont (3,183 SdA for a power of 24 MW and a capacity of 32 MWh).

The analysis: good, but not great

The trend is for significant growth in the number, power and capacity of storage compared to Q1 2020, with the latter being 60% higher in the corresponding period of 2021.

The power size of residential photovoltaic systems coupled with storage systems is growing: in the first quarter of 2021 there was a 9% increase in installations of photovoltaic systems between 6 and 10 kW compared to the last quarter of 2020 at the expense of smaller sizes, a clear sign of the process of electrification of the energy needs of buildings.

Looking at the type of configuration, there is a shift of new installations in favour of DC generation side compared to previous periods. Storage systems are mainly installed on the DC side (72%) and this configuration has been growing in recent years (+17% compared to 2020), at the expense of storage installed post-production (-14% compared to last year). On the other hand, for systems installed on the AC side, there has been a decrease of 3% compared to 2020.

All regions have consolidated a positive sign with respect to the first quarter of 2020 in terms of the number of installations, installed power and capacity.

The growth in the first quarter of 2021 sees storage systems all combined with residential photovoltaic systems. This growth is mainly attributable to the 50% tax deduction which benefits from the mechanisms of the discount on the invoice and the transfer of the credit to financial institutions established by Legislative Decree 34/2020 of 18 July 2020 (the so-called Growth Decree). It is clear that these mechanisms as designed are working very well and ANIE Rinnovabili believes they should be used structurally.

110% Superbonus: no shortage of problems

Anie's experts believe that the 110% Superbonus has not contributed significantly to the results of the first quarter of 2021, as simplifications and clarifications on procedures are still underway. They say at Anie: "In fact, at least nine months have been lost since the DL Crescita came into force. The continuous clarifications provided hiccup slow down the activities of operators and introduce further complexity going to change the operational processes necessary to allow citizens to benefit from the mechanism. Compliance with the clarifications provided by the Revenue Agency obliges operators to stop all practices and to re-verify them in order to ensure compliance with the new clarifications: it is a tiring work with significant retroactive impacts. The assumption that it is possible to benefit from the Superbonus also pending the completion of the contract with the Energy Services Manager, provided, however, that the taxpayer is in possession of the notice of acceptance of the application of the GSE, implies extending the time frame to which companies are financially exposed by an additional 200 days: timing not compatible with the duration of the Superbonus mechanism and with the standard market conditions applied by financial institutions. According to ARERA's TICA, in fact, about 200 days are needed to complete the process of connecting a residential photovoltaic system to the grid, which also includes registration on Terna's portal and on the portal of the distribution network operator. It is therefore hoped that the Revenue Agency's clarifications will be revised to remedy these critical points, replacing the GSE certificate with a self-declaration in lieu of affidavit by the taxpayer. If this does not happen, paradoxically Superbonus operators will hardly opt for the installation of photovoltaic and storage systems in order not to compromise the economic sustainability of the project, effectively excluding these technologies from the Superbonus for the energy requalification of buildings. Given how impactful it is, a simple clarification on such an important reform for the country's energy transition would be a win-win solution for the Revenue Agency and sector operators to discuss before the adoption of new clarifications to analyse their impact on the market".


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