The Italian national energy strategy of 2017 : how to increase the RES share

On November 10, 2017, the Italian Ministers of Economic Development and of the Envi-ronment issued a document named "Strategia Energetica Nazionale 2017" (National Energy Strategy of 2017 or SEN) which indicates the energy policy goals for 2030 and the actions to achieve them. Although the document does not have a value of official Italian commitment to the European Union, however, SEN-2017 shows how Italy would like to act to respect the targets that the European Union is setting for all the Member States in the context of the Clean Energy Package currently under consideration. Renewable energy sources are one of the pillars of SEN, but the initiatives indicated do not always seem able to let Italy reach the targets. The article shows why there is a risk of underperformance and suggests some actions to close the gap between the objectives and the probable results with the current measures. Although the data refer to Italy, these actions are certainly transferable to other EU countries. [Publishers' text].