ENERGY COST MANAGEMENT IN THE FOOD SECTOR IN ITALY
From criticality to competitive factor
THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2018
FLORENCE
Forecasting tools applied to the food sector.
Success stories, perspectives and future developments.
Speakers:
Marco Sgalla and Riccardo Maciocco
Opportunities and risks of
new aspects of energy markets.
Today's energy markets are complex, interconnected with each other, with environmental markets and with financial markets; the high volatility that characterizes them today requires ever greater attention to the estimation of possible price changes and the impact that these changes may have on costs.
In the context of the above mentioned complexity, the role of the energy supplier has been significantly transformed in the last 10 years; the mechanisms of production and/or supply of energy and of sale of the same to the final customers are now characterized by a high risk that, if not properly managed, can lead to the inability of the suppliers to meet the contractual obligations assumed with the customers. Up to extreme cases of bankruptcy.
Demand management is an important tool with which the grid operator makes end users participate in the grid balancing process; an end user who can interrupt part of his load for a certain period of time can participate in demand management; the grid operator, in case of an increase in demand, instead of calling a producer to increase production, can thus call an end user to interrupt part of his load, freeing up resources to satisfy the increase. This is obviously a process of optimization, efficiency of the system as a whole that leads to a reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, a process for which the end user is remunerated.
Opportunities in sustainable energy management.
Green procurement refers to "green" purchases, e.g. energy from renewable sources. The use of energy from renewable sources is mainly for product marketing, typically in the food sector. The certification of green energy has a cost and is typically included in a form of product certification (e.g. Mulino Bianco has a symbol indicating that only green energy is used). In addition, some types of long-term supply contracts are starting to spread, which are linked to the production of new plants from renewable sources "Power Purchase Agreement", which also allow special economic conditions, against long-term commitments. Finally, the Made Green in Italy regulation has recently come into force: in the framework of the initiatives to promote the green economy, Made Green Italy represents a tool to increase the competitiveness of the Italian production system in the context of the growing demand for products with high environmental qualification on national and international markets.
Energy efficiency and the related support tools (white certificates) is a tool to contain energy costs; however, it is an area that is not typical of the food industry, but concerns the entire industrial sector. The organic by-products of the agro-food industries are also matrices for the production of biological methane (biomethane), which represents an alternative to fossil methane and, above all, is the subject of a new form of particularly convenient incentive.