Energia 3.19: index and abstracts

Alberto Clô introduces Energia 3.19
(Presentazione)

COMMENT

The non-energy policy (pp. 6-9)
(La non politica energetica) 
di Giuseppe De Rita (Census)

Censis President Giuseppe De Rita comments on Energia 3.19 the evolution of Italian energy policy and tries to show the way out of the current impasse.

ENERGY POLICY

Which is ARERA’s view of the competition in the Italian electricity market? (pp. 10-15)
(Quale concorrenza nel mercato elettrico secondo ARERA?)
di Alberto Clô (Rivista «Energia»)

In the annual report of the Italian Energy Authority, there is no evidence of the state of competition in the national electricity market. This raises several concerns, given the increase in retail prices while prices decreased in the wholesale market. In this context, doubts emerge on the real advantages for consumers deriving from an unsuitable elimination of the protected market. The advantages would depend on the degree of market competitiveness and the redistribution of customers who have not opted for the free market. Another point of concern is the over-regulation, which is progressively reducing the freedom of utilities to make decisions.

A contestable market (pp. 16-21)
(Un mercato contendibile)
di G.B. Zorzoli (AIEE and «Energia» Scientific Committee)

Shortermism is dominating the financial sector, thus reducing earnings from generation plants, leading the big European utilities towards different business. This trend is apparently contradicted both by some Oil & Gas Company, whose headquarters are located in Europe, and by some Internet Giants, which decided to enter the electricity market, inclusive of generation. Such a decision is made easier by global dimensions and economic and financial power being much higher with respect to the biggest utilities. Moreover, Oil & Gas Companies are interested in diversifying in view of a decreasing demand for oil products in developed countries, whilst Internet Giants are inclined to diversify and are interested in the electricity market because the greater role played in the future by customer services and by electric mobility will increase the availability of Big Data on the consumers’ tendency to purchase, which is an important business of theirs.

Policies and strategies against energy poverty: features and criticalities (pp. 22-33)
(Politiche e strategie per combattere la povertà energetica: lineamenti e criticità)
di Sarah Supino e Benedetta Voltaggio (Studio legale tributario Salvini e Soci)

The article analyzes some juridical profiles of energy poverty, illustrates the earnest approach of the European Union to this problem and examines the main criticalities of the measures adopted in Italy to counteract such issue. In this perspective, the analysis focuses both on the para-fiscal components of the energy cost, with particular regard to the nature and function of the amounts covering general electricity charges, and on the possibility of identifying a «right to energy» recognized by the Italian Constitution. The aim is to provide some topics for stimulating the open debate concerning the need to guarantee access to adequate energy supplies for all individuals.

ENVIRONMENT

Climate change and energy transition: will we do it in time? (pp. 34-45)
(Cambiamento climatico e transizione energetica: faremo in tempo?) 
di Enzo Di Giulio (Eni Corporate University and «Energia» Scientific Committee) e Stefania Migliavacca (Eni Corporate University)

The aim of this article is to investigate the timing of the energy transition and the climate change. The carbon peak year is assumed as indicator of the decarbonisation process. The article proposes a literature review of the main scenarios and investigates the various scenarios of carbon peak through the Montecarlo analysis. The generation of thousands of scenarios appropriately distributed on a statistic level categorically rejects the hypothesis of a peak before 2031. The implementation of different tests set on the IPCC scenarios moves the carbon peak two or three decades foreword, allowing to identify the decade 2030-2040 as the most plausible period for the occurrence of the peak. The article explores implications and criticalities inherent in such a conclusion.

Climate risks and financial risks: a matter for central banks? (pp. 46-51) (Rischi climatici e rischi finanziari: una faccenda da banche centrali?) 
di Ivan Faiella (Banca d’Italia and «Energia» Scientific Committee)

Central banks have placed a growing emphasis on the fact that climate risks can affect the stability of the financial system, the resilience of individual intermediaries and interfere with the transmission channels of monetary policy and price stability. This article presents a brief review of the main mechanisms by which climate risk can be transmitted to the financial system potentially representing a «matter for central bankers».

TECHNOLOGY

Digitization: a new era in energy (pp. 52-57)
(Digitalizzazione: una nuova era nell’energia) 
di Laura Cozzi (IEA) e Vincenzo Franza (Enel Strategy Group)

Digitization has the potential to totally change the traditional business model of the energy sector by configuring an unprecedented competitive scenario.Laura Cozzi (IEA) and Vincenzo Franza (Enel Strategy Group) write about this in Energia 3.19.

OIL & GAS

Wall Stweet (pp. 58-61)
(Wall Stweet) 
di Francesco Gattei (Eni)

Currently 90% of exchanges on the financial markets rely on at least one artificial decision system. Automated trading, which makes increasing use of self-learning processes, maximizes the number of correlations between variables and puts thousands of instantaneous exchanges into effect. The market is dominated by the very shortterm reaction that gives maximum weight to the most frequent and detailed information flow, such as macroeconomic statistics, news or tweets. By amplifying volatility, systems sometimes generate flash crashes, provoking unexplained price falls. As victims of this technological evolution, hedge funds leave the more automated markets like commodity markets.

The energy transition and the Saipem model  (pp. 62-67) 
(La transizione energetica e il modello di Saipem)
di Stefano Cao (Saipem)

In the Big Data and artificial intelligence era, everything seems more predictable and easier to get. Though, more than ever, the nature, pace and dimension of changes are transforming uncertainty and volatility into a new «norm». In the Oil & Gas sector, the recent oil market crisis and the current global commitment to the energy transition introduced a profound transformation process. In this context, operators should continue to be resilient, with a special focus on the ability to adapt culturally to contexts characterized by constant changes and uncertainty.

REGULATION & DEREGULATION

Revision of incentives: whether national decisions are overturned in international court (pp. 68-72)
 (Revisione degli incentivi: se le sentenze nazionali vengono ribaltate nelle sedi internazionali) 
di Lorenzo Parola (Herbert Smith Freehills), Fabio Angelini (Publius Angelini & Partners), Teresa Arnoni (Herbert Smith Freehills), Vanessa Nobile (Herbert Smith Freehills)

Which legal consequences the revision of the photovoltaic incentives in Spain and Italy have led?

REVIEW

Stefano Zamagni, Responsabili. Come civilizzare il mercato
di Alberto Clô (Rivista «Energia»)

Here you can find the complete Italian index

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