Confartigianato Imprese di Cuneo, the second in Italy in terms of number of associated companies, invests in environmental sustainability and promotes, the first in Italy, a CER, called There was (as “craftsmanship”), established in the form of an association with legal personality, to facilitate the supply of energy produced by photovoltaic systems to the entrepreneurial fabric of the province and, eventually, of Piedmont.
With a governance that sees founding members as members Artisans Association of the Province of Cuneo Service Srl, Confartigianato Cuneo Donarti – Third Sector Organization (which carries out activities aimed at supporting and providing social solidarity) e the FabLab Cuneo Association (which promotes “digital manufacturing” activities and the sustainable development of businesses and initiatives that concern the territory where they operate), the CER will operate through the articulation of individual local configurations, relating to individual “primary cabins”, for the injection and withdrawal of electricity from the network, proceeding with individual self-consumption on site by those members equipped with a system, and “distribution” through the network to those who join the initiative, such as simple final consumers.
The CER is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but “open” to the membership of anyone who wishes to participate (private citizens, public bodies). The aim of the CER is to allow its members to make significant savings on energy costs, and at the same time to use – also for solidarity purposes – the incentives provided by the GSE. In the last four years, Confartigianato has decided to focus decisively on energy sustainability, therefore to accompany companies on a path that is now imposed by the European community, which has very precise and very tight deadlines. There is talk of essentially achieving zero CO2 emissions, however balanced by 2050.
Franco Roagna, president of CER-a he recalled that “one of the objectives of the CER is redistribution across the territory to combat energy poverty. This means that an important part of the incentive must have social purposes in the energy sector”. Among the development projects there is also expansion throughout Piedmont, the Aosta Valley and Liguria. This, he recalled Ragna “due to the fact that the law allows us to actually have a much broader scope, even up to the whole of Northern Italy, where we will be able to set up ‘sub-CERs’, i.e. configurations that will be part of the main CER-a, and which will have as their scope that of the primary cabin”.
Michele Quaglia, provincial vice-president, he recalled that “Confartigianato Cuneo represents over 9,600 artisan companies and SMEs in the province. We are divided into 12 zones, which allows us to have a very close relationship and to provide important services from safety to the environment, in addition to tax. This project was born as an advanced sharing model. It is precisely the open nature of the CER that allows it to integrate other entities from the business world and civil society. The most striking example in Europe is that of Denmark, where a group of private citizens formed an energy community to meet environmentalist pressures and sensitivities by creating a photovoltaic park. We believe in this model and we want to apply it in Piedmont too.”
Second Joseph Meineri General Director of Confartigianato Imprese, “The work conducted by Environment Park, a company for environmental innovation, was fundamental to the success of the project, with an initial study on the primary substations of Cuneo, Mondovì and Savigliano preparatory to the establishment of the CER. A second investigation is now underway on three other cabins (respectively in the Fossanese, Braidese and Canale e Montà areas) which we will present starting from May 16th to allow businesses and citizens to evaluate the feasibility of entering inside of the CER. Through an in-depth analysis where a sample of artisan companies is examined, it will be possible to know their consumption profiles and, consequently, install photovoltaic systems and what convenience comes from joining an energy community”.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) allocates 2.2 billion euros to “promote” the development of CER with specific financing for electricity production plants powered by renewable sources. The provision provides for two measures, which can be combined with each other: the provision of a non-repayable contribution of up to 40% of eligible expenses and an incentive tariff on renewable energy produced and shared. To obtain the non-repayable contribution, the requesting CERs cannot be located in a municipality with a population exceeding 5 thousand inhabitants, while the incentive tariff is aimed at the entire national territory. Undoubtedly the incentives of the PNRR, to which a regional contribution is also added, are good “stimuli”, but the intent of our initiative is to start a real ecological transition process through a change of mentality translated into concrete and sustainable initiatives.
The legal support for the establishment of the CER-a was provided by the lawyers David Colombini and Andrea Perino of WSL – Weigmann Law Firm.
With its 9,653 members, Confartigianato Cuneo ranks second in Italy in terms of number of employees. In the province of Cuneo there are 16,922 artisan businesses registered with the Cuneo Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture. As regards the categorical areas, the ones that stand out are construction (1950), systems (1432), mobility (1100), mechanics (894), health and well-being (678), wood and furniture (507), food (483), information technology and communication (225), fashion (167). During 2021, the added value of craftsmanship at basic and current prices by branch of economic activity reached a total of 1.865 billion Euros out of 9.301 for the entire Piedmont region.
