Italy’s Ministry of Environmental Transition (MITE) published the Regulation to “immediately achieve savings at the European level, useful for any type of cut-off of gas supplies from Russia,” according to La Stampa, as quoted by Rador.

Among the expected measures is a decrease of 1 degree in the appropriate temperature for heating buildings, from 17 degrees, with plus or minus 2 degrees of tolerance in the case of buildings used for industrial or craft activities, and from 19 degrees, with plus or minus 2 degrees of tolerance for the rest of the buildings.

“Limits for the operation of thermal power plants,” the Regulations state, “in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 4 of Presidential Decree No. 74/2013, are reduced by 15 days in part of the ignition period (postponed by 8 days from the beginning and advanced by 7 days from the end date) and for 1 hour in terms of the daily duration of kindling”.

The new rules do not apply to sensitive users such as hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

The impact assessment of all the measures specified in the Regulation “leads to a potential of approximately 5.3 billion cubic meters of gas, taking into account the maximization of electricity production from fuels other than gas (approximately 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas) and the associated savings with reduced heating (about 3.2 billion cubic meters of gas)”.

Not only. Added to all this, MITE explains, are behavioral measures that need to be promoted through user awareness campaigns to encourage more virtuous behavior.

The Italian government expects that the measures adopted by MITE, together with voluntary behavioral measures for energy efficiency, “will lead to a reduction in consumption in line with the EU Regulation of 15%, i.e. equal to at least 8.2 billion Smc. natural gas”.

For the first storage measure, the government has set a national target of at least 90% storage.

On the other hand, regarding measures to diversify the origin of imported gas, an agreement was signed on the gradual increase of gas supplies from Algeria, which will make the most of the current transport capacity of the gas pipeline reaching Sicily, supplying increased volumes of gas even from 2022.

New routes

The government, in agreement with ENI and SNAM, has taken steps to guarantee LNG supplies via new routes: up to 3.5 billion cubic meters from Egypt, up to 1.4 billion cubic meters from Qatar, up to 4.6 billion cubic meters gradually from Congo, and about 3, 0-3.5 billion cubic meters of negotiated supplies from other countries such as Angola, Nigeria, Mozambique, Indonesia and Libya.

The first regasifier

The government’s aim is to have the first floating regasification plant operational as soon as possible, even from the first months of 2023, and then (and in any case by 2024) to inaugurate the second plant.

This, says MITE, is fundamental, especially to be able to cope with the winter of 2023-2024, given that the storage is likely to be fully used in the winter season of 2022-2023, and therefore adequate replenishment will be required . .

A set of implemented initiatives makes it possible to replace about 30 billion cubic meters of Russian gas by 2025 with about 25 billion cubic meters of gas from various sources, closing the gap with renewable sources and energy efficiency policy.

The document states that the voluntary consumption cap plan will cover “15% of the baseline consumption in the period under consideration”, ie from August 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.

In particular, with regard to bioliquids, due to the high cost of raw materials, a plan was developed to reduce the working hours of factories and temporarily use diesel fuel.

If the potential of these plants is maximized from October, then about 290 million cubic meters of gas would be saved, and from November 2022, consumption will amount to slightly more than 200 million cubic meters.

The government expects to save about 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas from this plan. In addition, an information campaign will be carried out to try, with the joint support of the Presidency of the Council and ENEA, to create a virtuous attitude.

Some of these behaviors include shorter showers, less use of ovens, washing machines, and fully loaded dishwashers.

Additional savings can be achieved, writes the Ministry of Ecological Transition, “by adopting behavioral measures that require even small investments from users, for example, investing in replacing larger consumer appliances with more efficient ones, replacing air conditioners with the latest and most efficient ones. , installation of new electric heat pumps instead of old gas boilers, installation of thermal solar panels for hot water production and replacement of traditional light bulbs with LED ones.” La Stampa (Rador takeover)