Legambiente presents Dossier 'Qual buon vento' the photograph of wind energy in Campania

The wind of renewables is blowing strong in Campania and brings with it the potential for a new energy, economic, landscape and social change.

Campania plays an important role when it comes to wind energy: it is the third region in Italy for installed power, with over 1,7 GW, and it even represents the second for annual production, thanks to the 3,7 TWh of electricity produced in 2021. Important numbers that see Campania as a leading territory in the wind sector which, thanks to its numerous installations (as many as 625 plants with over 1200 turbines) contributes 18% of the entire national wind production.

With still significant growth and development potential: according to some estimates by ANEV, we are talking about approximately 19 GW for Italy by 2030, of which 12%, equal to 2,3 GW, can be developed in Campania. Legambiente Campania presents the dossier “Qual buon vento” during the Wind Forum that took place this morning at the Sala Consiliare Rocca dei Rettori in Benevento with the Patronage of ANEV, Province of Benevento and Cesvo Lab.

As of 2021, there are 625 wind power plants in Campania, with a gross efficient power of 1.770,7 MW and an energy production of 3.557,1 GWh/year [source: TERNA]. Wind power is the renewable electricity technology with the greatest installed power in Campania: it represents 54% of the total, followed by photovoltaic, hydroelectric and bioenergy, with 28,2%, 10,5% and 7,3% respectively. Wind power in Campania is also first for electricity production from RES: with a value equal to 56,2% of the total, it is then followed by bioenergy (17,9%), solar photovoltaic (15,1%) and hydroelectric (10,8%).

Of a total of 59 municipalities in Campania involved in wind farm installations, those in the provinces of Benevento and Avellino account for 44% and 36%. The distribution of power, province by province, also follows a similar trend: the provinces of Avellino and Benevento have on their territory 46,2% and 40,38% of the total wind farm power in Campania, followed by Salerno with 12,18% and behind Caserta and Naples with just 1,18% and even 0,06%. Therefore, the provinces of Avellino and Benevento predominate: it is there, in the areas close to the Apennines, that the strongest winds blow and the installations give the best results.

Neapolitan is almost absent, however, for different reasons: first of all the wind, values ​​of 5-6 meters per second, the minimum necessary to trigger the turbines, are mainly found along the Apennine area. The municipalities with the greatest installed power in absolute terms are Bisaccia and Lacedonia (Av), with 181 and 154 MW, and San Giorgio la Molara and Morcone (Bn), with 119 and 109 MW.

“On the one hand - comments Mariateresa Imparato, president of Legambiente Campania - Wind power is the driving force of the renewable electricity sector in Campania, on the other hand this sector is still struggling to express its full potential. Although this energy source is the first in terms of power and production among renewable electricity sources, there is still a long way to go to ensure that the percentage of consumption coverage in Campania is greater.

According to some estimates by ANEV, the growth and development potential of wind energy is still significant: we are talking about approximately 2,3 GW for Campania. However, with the average installation of the last five years, we will reach this goal in almost thirty years and not in seven. A plant stalemate that certainly does not depend on the Campania bureaucracy, which in recent years seems to be moving quickly thanks also to the ability to mediate with institutions and companies to improve projects and make them compatible with the territory.

A winning approach that however requires human resources to strengthen dedicated regional and local offices and commissions, in line with the draft Simplification Decree that provides for the possibility of strengthening to achieve the objectives of the PNRR. Not only that, a clear line of direction is also needed for the evaluation and integration of plants in the territories, overcoming now obsolete national regulations such as the Interministerial Decree of 10 September 2010 issued by the Ministry of Economic Development in agreement with the then Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. Renewables - concludes Imparato of Legambiente Campania - can represent an important driving force for the rebirth of the territories and if well governed they can transform Campania and all of Southern Italy into the national and international hub of energy."

Returning to the Legambiente dossier, the first wind installations in Campania were in the mid-25s. More than 2000 years have passed since then and every year new megawatts of power have been installed, a growth that is certainly interesting, which has seen, from 2021 to 760, an increase of 85%. In the last five years, an average of 70 MW have been installed per year (an average that drops to 2030 if we consider the last ten years). According to ANEV estimates, we have an installable potential of 2300 MW by XNUMX: with this average installation, however, we will reach this installation potential in almost thirty years and not in seven.

The growth of wind power - Legambiente writes in the dossier - from now to the next few years will not have to focus only on the creation of new plants, but also on the modernization of existing ones. In Campania, 1 wind plant out of 4 is over 20 years old. A picture that shows a partly obsolete wind farm, which from now to 2030 will be composed of 19% of plants that are already over 30 years old, losing important production capacity.

The end of life of the plants must represent the true wind of economic, landscape and social change that Campania needs. A strategic opportunity, not only to decommission historic plants that are often the cause of conflict between citizens and administrations, but also to radically transform the territory through correctly managed repowering and revamping projects. Decommissioning yes, but not only.

There are many projects in Campania that have been approved and are awaiting approval: they will bring significant changes to the territory, especially from a landscape point of view, with a reduction in the overall number of wind turbines of up to 90%. All this without losing sight of the goal of energy production and decarbonization, with significant improvements also from the point of view of the new installed power. Benefits not only for the environment and the landscape, but also significant economic implications, in terms of employment. Prospects for the creation of new jobs that, based on estimates released by ANEV, see a potential employment in the national territory by 2030 of 67.200 overall jobs, of which 8000 in Campania.

In this growth perspective, which sees Campania as the protagonist, there are still no estimates on the possibility of growth of wind energy not only on land, but also at sea. Offshore wind energy can contribute to the energy mix of the ecological transition and, if on the one hand about 60 projects have been presented throughout the country, on the other Campania does not appear among the protagonists of this revolution, resulting in a territory left in the background compared to other coastal regions on which most attention is being focused.