The target is to reach an energy self-dependancy of approximately 30% at a national level.

A Ministerial Decree introduced last year  new incentives for the generation of electricity from renewable energetic source other than solar photovoltaic.

It was the D.M. 6 July 2012, providing for the implementation of art. 24 of legislative decree  3 March 2011 no. 28, providing for the incentives for generation of electricity from renewable energy sources other than solar, in Gazzetta Ufficiale Suppl. Ordinario n. 143 of 10 July 2012.

The new target of electricity generation from renewable energy sources has been fixed in 32-35% of the total energy consumption of Italy as of 2020. The new level of cost has been set in aggregate for all incentives to be paid under the regime of incentives for renewable energies excluding solar is 5.8 billion euros a year.

The aimed mix of the D.M. is to foster the sources that better meet the targets of lowest possible unitary costs, highest possible upturns for the italian economic chain and minimization of the environmental impact and of the effects on electricity grids. In this context, a specific priority is to be given to waste-to-energy plants using the biodegradable segment of garbage.

The threshold triggering the tender is 5 MW, except for hydro for which it is 10 MW and geothermal for which it is 20 MW.

The following categories of plants can go through competitive tenders in order to access the tariffs: new plants, fully re-built plants and restarted plants with capacities above the threshold triggering the tender; hybrid plants with capacities above the threshold triggering the tender; partially or totally refurbished plants (with some limitations); repowered plants for which the capacity gap exceeds the threshold triggering the tender.