Italy's new power brokers

THE towering white wind turbines that rise from gnarled ancient olive groves here suggest something extraordinary is happening across Italy.

Faced with sky-high electricity rates, small communities across a country known more for rubbish than environmental citizenship are finding economic salvation in making renewable energy.

More than 800 communities now make more energy than they use because of the recent addition of renewable energy plants. Renewable energy has been such a boon for Tocco that it makes money from electricity production and has no local taxes or fees for services such as rubbish collection.

A town of 2,700 people in Italy's poor mountainous centre, with its well-maintained church and ruined castle, Tocco is in most ways stuck in yesteryear. The olive harvest is the most important event on the calendar.

Yet, from an energy perspective, Tocco is very much tomorrow. As well as its wind turbines, solar panels generate electricity at its ancient cemetery and sports complex, and a growing number of private residences.

"Normally when you think about energy you think about big plants, but here what's interesting is that local municipalities have been very active," said Edoardo Zanchini, who is in charge of environmental group Legambiente's energy division.

"That this can happen in a place like Italy is really impressive."

Italy is an unlikely backdrop for a renewable revolution. It has been repeatedly criticised by the European Union for failing to follow the bloc's environmental directives. It is not on track to meet either its EU-mandated emissions-reduction target or its commitment to get 17 per cent of its total power from renewable sources by 2020. Currently, only 7 per cent of Italy's power comes from renewable sources.

But the growth of small renewable projects in towns like Tocco highlights the way shifting energy economics are often more important than national planning in promoting alternative energy. Tocco was motivated to become an early adapter because Italy already had among the highest electricity rates in Europe and it could not cope with the wild fluctuations in fossil-fuel prices and supply that has prevailed over the past decade.

At the same time, the costs of renewable energy have been falling rapidly. And as in much of Europe, the lure of alternative power here was sweetened by feed-in tariffs - government guarantees to buy renewable electricity at an attractive set price from any company, city or household that produces it.

In countries where energy from fossil fuels is naturally expensive and there is money to be made, renewable energy quickly starts to flow, even in unlikely places such as Tocco.With its four wind turbines, Tocco generates 30 per cent more electricity than it uses. Production of green electricity earned the town 170,000, more than 148,000, last year. It is renovating the school for earthquake protection and has tripled the budget for street cleaners.

Tocco was primed for success. In a mountain valley that serves as a thoroughfare for prevailing winds, it was chosen as the site for an early EU demonstration project in wind power in 1989. It had two inefficient turbines installed that lasted about a decade and were not replaced, meeting at best 25 per cent of the town's electricity requirements. Residents called them "sacks of noise".

But in recent years, with improved technology, silent turbines and a meagre public purse, town officials tried again. "We knew what we were doing and where to put them," said Riziero Zaccagnini, the town's popular mayor.

The new turbines are owned and operated under a contract with a private energy company, which installed the turbines and sells electricity to the national grid. Tocco profits because the company leases the land on which the turbines stand and gives the town a cut of the profits it makes from selling electricity generated with local wind.

Although more electricity is produced than consumed, residents do not use the electricity it produces directly because relying entirely on local wind energy could leave the town vulnerable to blackouts during periods of calm.

They have recently turned to renewable resources to resolve other civic problems, like a financial scandal at the town's ancient cemetery, a riot of pastel stucco tombs, festooned with flowers and photographs of departed elders. In the past decade, one management company went bankrupt and another absconded with residents' upkeep fees.

An installation of solar panels now lights walkways, powers the office and generates an income of 1,300 a year to pay for maintenance. The project has also created new types of work for local electricians. Wealthier homeowners are paying these experts to install solar panels. The stucco home of Domenico Marini, a dental technician, has roof panels in addition to a koi pond and garden gnomes. His monthly electricity bills have dropped to zero from as much as 950.

Tocco has won awards from international environmental groups for its efforts in renewable energy. But, said Mayor Zaccagnini, that is not really a strong motivation: "We've gotten lots of kudos from outside, but people here care more that we now have money to fill potholes."