Italy rises in about six months by 3 positions (from 15th to 12th place) in the EY world ranking on the attractiveness of investments and development opportunities in the renewable energy sector. This is what emerges from the 60th edition of the EY Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (Recai) report, which ranks the top 40 countries in the world for investment attractiveness and development opportunities in the renewable energy sector.
In this edition’s ranking, Italy rises from 15th to 12th place in the ranking, thanks to the thrust of the new draft of the Fer 2 Decree and the efforts to simplify authorizations. On the podium are the United States, China and Germany followed in the top 10 by the UK, France, Australia, India, Spain, Japan and the Netherlands. Among the most significant challenges for countries, the EY report highlights the need to strengthen the so-called energy resilience: consolidate the production of renewable energy, accelerate the diversification of energy production sources and increase storage.
“Energy transition is a central and priority issue especially in the light of the significant challenges that the whole world, and in particular Italy, has to face – observes Giacomo Chiavari, EY Europe West Strategy and Transaction Energy Leader – This is reflected in the commitments undertaken to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on gas imports. In this edition of Recai, our country establishes itself as a leading player on the European stage, thanks to the abundance of renewable energies (water, solar and wind sources), the ambitious growth targets (necessary to rapidly achieve decarbonisation and greater independence energy) and, in the current context, at the generous prices of the wholesale market”.
Focusing on the main results of this edition, the United States maintains its top position thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act approved in August and intended as a green turning point in particular in the field of green hydrogen. In second place, China continues to accelerate the transition to renewable energy by trying to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Compared to the last edition of Recai, Germany rises to third position while the United Kingdom falls to fourth. The Netherlands enters the top 10 of the index thanks to its ambitious program that includes a target of 70 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050. Spain also moves up one position, from 9th to 8th place. Of note was the strong performance of Greece, led by new targets of 15 GW of new green energy by 2030 and 2 GW of offshore wind in the same time frame.
In this edition of Recai theItaly it moved from 15th to 12th place in the general classification but that’s not all: the country recorded one of the best performances compared to the index, not only in terms relative to other countries, but in absolute terms. There are various factors that contributed to this result. First of all, the report points out, the incentives contained in the new draft of the Fer 2 Decree, which establishes new price support mechanisms; another significant aspect was the announcement of 5 GW of offshore wind that will be auctioned between 2023 and 2026 and the construction of the first offshore wind plant in the country.
Among the other decisive elements highlighted in the report, the growth of installations and the strengthening of the pipeline of projects (both in onshore wind and photovoltaic) and the acceleration of authorization procedures to facilitate the diffusion of renewable energy projects.