What resources does Italy use to produce electricity?

The Italian context At present, the Italian electricity supply strongly relies on fossil power plants, which exploit resources such as coal, oil, natural gas and non renewable industrial and municipal waste [ 41 ].

What is a simplified model of the Italian power sector?

A simplified model of the Italian power sector is implemented with only batteries as new energy storage option. Moreover, the model period is set from 2021 to 2040. These two simplifications have been made to limit the model's complexity and avoid excessive computational effort.

Do energy storage facilities promote energy systems based on VREs?

On the electricity production side, a VRES share of 74.6 % by 2050 is planned, while the remainder is divided between hydropower (20.1 %) and gas-based technologies (5.3 %). Furthermore, this analysis highlights the key role of energy storage facilities in promoting energy systems strongly based on VRES.

Does Italy have an offshore wind power plant?

Offshore wind potential assessment Nowadays, offshore wind power plants are scarcely installed in Italy, with a bottom-fixed offshore wind farm of 30 MW near Taranto harbor. Nevertheless, several efforts are being made to develop and exploit also the offshore wind source.

Do energy storage systems limit the oversizing of renewable technologies?

It is also highlighted the key role of energy storage systems in limiting the oversizing of the renewable technologies, as also observed by both Jafari et al. [ 20] and Marocco et al. [ 84 ]. Fig. 9.

When will hydrogen storage become a preferred energy storage solution?

Batteries are found to be the preferable energy storage solution in the first part of the energy transition, while the hydrogen storage starts to be convenient from about the year 2040. Indeed, the role of hydrogen storage becomes fundamental as the VRES penetration increases thanks to its cost-effective long-term storage capability.