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Unburdening regulation: The impact of regulatory simplification on photovoltaic adoption in Italy

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  • Daniele, Federica
  • Pasquini, Alessandra
  • Clò, Stefano
  • Maltese, Enza

Abstract

This paper measures the impact of a series of reforms enacted by a subset of Italian regions during 2009–2013 that dramatically simplified the authorisation procedure for investment into mid-sized to large sized photovoltaic plants, i.e. plants with capacity installed between 20 and 200 kW. We rely on georeferenced administrative data on nearly the universe of photovoltaic plants built in Italy, and employ a stacked border diff-in-diff around the time of the regional reforms and municipalities located close to the border of regions that implemented them. We find that simplification reforms increased by 29 percentage points the capacity installed in medium-to-large plants, which resulted into 12 extra MW installed per quarter, about 10% of average quarterly installations for the same category of plants during 2009–2013.

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  • Daniele, Federica & Pasquini, Alessandra & Clò, Stefano & Maltese, Enza, 2023. "Unburdening regulation: The impact of regulatory simplification on photovoltaic adoption in Italy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:125:y:2023:i:c:s0140988323003420
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106844
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    2. Alessandro Bessi & Mariangela Guidolin & Piero Manfredi, 2024. "Diffusion of Solar PV Energy in Italy: Can Large-Scale PV Installations Trigger the Next Growth Phase?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Stefano Clò & Gianluca Iannucci & Alessandro Tampieri, 2024. "Dynamic Choice of Renewable Energy Communities," Working Papers - Economics wp2024_29.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    4. Simona Galano & Luca Sessa & Simone ZuccolalÃ, 2022. "The quality of electricity supply: a comparison among Italian regions," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 737, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    5. Matteo Alpino & Luca Brugnara & Maria Giulia Cassinis & Luca Citino & Francesco David & Annalisa Frigo & Giulio Papini & Pasquale Recchia & Luca Sessa, 2025. "Going green: the recent development of renewable energy sources in Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 908, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Photovoltaic investment; Regulatory simplification; Regions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources

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