Renewable energy communities in Italy: policy, opportunities, and a feasibility case study in Valdigne Valley

This thesis presents a pre-feasibility study for a Renewable Energy Community (REC, CER in Italian) across the Valdigne area of the Aosta Valley (Courmayeur, Pré-Saint-Didier, La Thuile, Morgex, La Salle). RECs enable citizens, public bodies and SMEs to jointly produce, share, and consume renewable electricity (primarily solar PV), so members act as prosumers and capture local economic, environmental, and social benefits. In Italy, RECs have been recognized since 2020. As of 2023 they may operate on the medium-voltage distribution grid within a single primary substation. Compensation for shared energy is granted by the GSE and allocated among members according to agreed rules. RECs are therefore a key tool for decarbonization, cost reduction, and local resilience. The study evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of a Valdigne REC by aligning renewable potential with demand and quantifying value streams. The work proceeds in four integrated stages that move from resource assessment to market viability: 1.??Rooftop PV potential: high-resolution geospatial analysis in QGIS combines municipal boundaries, building footprints, primary substations and a Digital Surface Model. Roof tilt and azimuth derived from the DSM, together with solar irradiation and standard PV models, yield annual producibility for each roof. Monthly average hourly profiles are also generated to compare production with local load and to estimate self-consumption and energy sharing. Results are aggregated by primary substation and delivered in a spreadsheet. 2.??Solar carports on public parking: to complement rooftops, suitable parking lots are identified by size, solar exposure, and access. Conceptual canopy layouts are designed in Helioscope and producibility is estimated under standardized assumptions (module efficiency, spacing, tilt), expanding generation potential where rooftop options are limited. 3.??Energy demand and load profiling: for the three primary substations, electricity use is estimated for private buildings( primary residences, secondary homes typical of this tourist area, productive/commercial uses, ski facilities, and hotels) using regional/national benchmarks and ISTAT counts, adjusted for seasonality. Representative daily and seasonal load curves are synthesized. For municipal assets, billing data and time-of-use bands (F1, F2, F3) inform detailed profiles and PV self-consumption potential. 4.??Economic analysis: production profiles for households, second homes, commerce/industry, ski facilities, and hotels are matched to demand to compute shared, energy volumes and incremental revenues under GSE remuneration rules. This determines the financial viability of one or more RECs per primary substation in Valdigne and supports decisions on siting, sizing, member mix, and incentive allocation.