Energy

Small plants, small impact

In order to face the problem of safeguarding the environment when constructing hydroelectric plants in particularly vulnerable and sensitive areas, the trend in the past years was to progressively abandon the construction of large plants that can cause a heavy environmental impact, in favour of small hydroelectric plants, the micro-hydro plants that are small hydroelectric power plants producing a power below 100 kW. These plants are built without the need to create reservoirs or collection basins, and they exploit drops in level of few metres, and can produce energy also in isolated areas, that usually are not served by the Italian national energy network, as for example isolated housing units, farms and shelters. In this way the use of the source of water offers the mountain communities that are concerned, the possibility of a direct control over the management and use of the plant. The energy produced is exploited in the area with immediate advantages for the local populations and without necessarily having to build large electricity pylons. In the case of plants whose power is limited the intake of water is very limited and modification in the course and capacity of the water supply are small, and the water that is utilized is immediately returned downstream of the plant itself. The characteristics of these plants seem more suited for a capillary exploitation of the potentiality offered by water courses fed by glacier melt waters in isolated mountain areas that are poorly served by the Italian national network. At present a bill is being studied to allow micro-hydro plants to be added to the net metering network, the system that has been created in order to enable an exchange with the Italian national electricity network, through which it is possible to yield energy when there is an over-production and request the same when it is not sufficient . At present this method is applied only in the case of power produced by private photovoltaic plants.