Frequently asked questions. Short answers, with sources.

It is a community whose shareholders or members share the electricity produced by renewable plants available to and controlled by the community. By law its main purpose is environmental, economic or social benefits for its shareholders or members and for local areas, not financial profit.

The rules are in art. 31 of Legislative Decree 199/2021, in the text in force since 19 April 2026. Participation is open and voluntary; control powers belong to the shareholders or members located in the territory where the sharing plants are.

Under the GSE operating rules (version of 16 July 2025), a CER configuration needs at least two shareholders or members, as final customers or producers, and at least two distinct connection points, connected to a consumption unit and to a production plant.

The GSE reports that on 31 August 2026 there were more than 4,800 CER configurations with active contracts or contracts being finalised, with about 400 MW of plants and more than 51,000 connection points (press release of 7 September 2026).

In the glossary: Renewable energy community (CER), Shared energy, CACER.

Shareholders or members may be natural persons, including within their condominium, SMEs, associations, religious and third-sector bodies, research and training bodies, local administrations on the ISTAT list and the other entities listed in art. 31 of Legislative Decree 199/2021. For businesses, taking part cannot be their main commercial and industrial activity.

To access the incentive tariff of MASE Ministerial Decree 414/2023, SMEs are the only businesses admitted as shareholders or members. According to the GSE (page consulted on 2 October 2026), the following cannot be shareholders or members, for example: central administrations, large enterprises and private companies whose main ATECO code is 35.1, 35.11.00, 35.12.00 or 35.15.00.

Participating final customers keep their final-customer rights, including choice of supplier, and may withdraw at any time, subject to fair and proportionate charges for investments.

The words «including within their condominium» were added by Decree-Law 21/2026, converted by Law 49/2026.

In the glossary: Renewable energy community (CER).

It is, hour by hour, the lower of the energy fed into the grid by the plants and the energy withdrawn for sharing purposes by the configuration's connection points in the same market zone. The premium tariff and the valorisation contribution are calculated on the share relating to points under the same primary substation.

This is the calculation rule of the ARERA regulation in force, the TIAD (Annex A to resolution 727/2022/R/eel, updated by resolution 15/2024/R/eel). Self-consumed energy, the basis of the valorisation contribution, is the part of shared energy relating only to connection points in the area of the same primary substation.

Since 24 January 2026 the law (Legislative Decree 199/2021, art. 2, as amended by Legislative Decree 3/2026) defines shared energy over each settlement period of up to one hour. ARERA has opened the alignment process with resolution 223/2026/R/eel: the phase on sharing within distributed self-consumption configurations is scheduled by 30 June 2027.

In the glossary: Shared energy, Self-consumed energy, Primary substation, Market zone, Integrated Text on Distributed Self-Consumption (TIAD).

The law allows energy to be shared within the same market zone, but to access incentives and tariff refunds plants and consumers must be connected under the same primary substation. The areas served by primary substations are conventional: distribution operators define them and the GSE publishes them.

Under the TIAD, a primary substation is an electrical station supplied at high or extra-high voltage, with at least one transformer to medium voltage serving the distribution grid. Membership of an area refers to the POD's supply address.

The requirement applies to every configuration that applies for the premium tariff: the connection points of plants and consumers must be in the area of the same primary substation (MASE Ministerial Decree 414/2023, art. 3).

For small non-interconnected islands the primary-substation limit does not apply for tariff refunds and incentives.

In the glossary: Primary substation, Market zone, Premium tariff (TIP).

The premium tariff of MASE Ministerial Decree 414/2023 has a fixed part that depends on plant size and a variable part equal to max(0; 180 - Pz), where Pz is the hourly zonal price, subject to a cap. It is due for 20 years from the plant's commercial operation date and the applicable tariff stays fixed for the whole period.

The bands (Ministerial Decree 414/2023, Annex 1): up to 200 kW, EUR 80/MWh plus the variable part, capped at EUR 120/MWh; 200 to 600 kW, EUR 70/MWh, capped at 110; above 600 kW, EUR 60/MWh, capped at 100. The variable part therefore ranges from 0 to EUR 40/MWh and is zero when Pz is EUR 180/MWh or higher.

For photovoltaics the tariff rises by EUR 4/MWh in the Central regions (Lazio, Marche, Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo) and by EUR 10/MWh in the Northern regions. In the GSE operating rules (version of 16 July 2025) the uplift is added after the cap: the photovoltaic maximum is EUR 120, 124 or 130/MWh (South, Centre, North) up to 200 kW, 110, 114 or 120 for 200 to 600 kW, and 100, 104 or 110 above 600 kW.

The tariff applies to the share of energy shared through the grid under the same primary substation. All energy fed in remains with the producer, who may sell it on the market or to the GSE through dedicated withdrawal; the GSE pays the premium tariff together with the valorisation fee.

In the glossary: Premium tariff (TIP), Zonal price (Pz), Primary substation, Valorisation contribution (CACV).

It is the contribution set by ARERA on self-consumed energy, which the GSE pays together with the premium tariff. For CERs it equals the month's self-consumed energy multiplied by the variable part of the low-voltage transmission tariff (TRAS_E), which in 2026 is 1.190 euro cents/kWh, i.e. EUR 11.90/MWh.

TRAS_E was 1.057 euro cents/kWh in 2024 and 1.189 euro cents/kWh in 2025 (ARERA, transmission tariff page and tables of resolution 573/2025/R/eel, consulted on 2 October 2026).

For plants above 1 MW in a configuration, the GSE pays only the valorisation contribution, not the premium tariff.

For groups of self-consumers the contribution also includes the highest variable BTAU distribution component, for energy from plants in the same building, and avoided grid losses (1.2% at medium voltage, 2.6% at low voltage), valued at the hourly zonal price.

In the glossary: Valorisation contribution (CACV), Self-consumed energy, Premium tariff (TIP), Group of self-consumers.

New or upgraded renewable plants, each up to 1 MW, that entered operation from 16 December 2021 and, for CERs, after the community was duly constituted. Plants and withdrawal points must be in the area of the same primary substation.

The 1 MW limit is a requirement for the incentive (Legislative Decree 199/2021, art. 8; MASE Ministerial Decree 414/2023, art. 3), not a capacity limit for the CER: for plants above 1 MW the GSE pays only the valorisation contribution.

Existing plants may join the CER for no more than 30% of the community's total capacity. For photovoltaics, the modules must be new.

For plants that entered operation within 150 days of Ministerial Decree 414/2023 taking effect, even before the CER was constituted, access to the incentive requires documents proving that the plant was built to be part of a community (Decree-Law 19/2025, art. 1-ter).

In the glossary: Premium tariff (TIP), Primary substation, Valorisation contribution (CACV).

Yes: according to the GSE, a CER's plants may also be provided by a third-party producer who is not a shareholder or member. All plants in the configuration must, however, be available to and under the control of the community.

The energy produced and fed into the grid remains with the producer, who may sell it on the market or to the GSE through dedicated withdrawal; the GSE pays the premium tariff together with the valorisation fee.

A third-party producer with a plant in the configuration may act as the CER's referent only if it is an ESCo certified under UNI CEI 11352 (GSE operating rules, version of 16 July 2025).

For shared-energy purposes only the output of plants available to and under the control of the community counts (Legislative Decree 199/2021, art. 31).

In the glossary: Renewable energy community (CER), Referent, ESCo certified under UNI CEI 11352, Dedicated withdrawal (RID).

The referent manages the application for the distributed self-consumption service, is the data controller and is the GSE's contractual counterparty. In a CER the referent is the community itself, which may grant a mandate without representation lasting one year, tacitly renewable and revocable at any time.

Under the GSE operating rules (version of 16 July 2025), a CER's referent may be: the community, through its legal representative; a producer member; a final-customer member; or a third-party producer with a plant in the configuration that is an ESCo certified under UNI CEI 11352.

Final customers also appoint, by private-law contract, a party responsible for allocating the shared energy (Legislative Decree 199/2021, art. 32).

In the glossary: Referent, ESCo certified under UNI CEI 11352, Renewable energy community (CER).

The application window closed on 30 November 2025, a mandatory deadline. Since 2026 the programme has been managed by the GSE (Decree-Law 19/2026, art. 27) and, according to the GSE, funded projects must enter operation within 24 months of notification of the concession agreement and in any case no later than 31 December 2027.

The grant covers up to 40% of eligible costs for CERs and groups of self-consumers with plants in municipalities under 50,000 inhabitants (MASE Ministerial Decree 127/2025); remote self-consumers are excluded. The maximum eligible investment cost ranges from EUR 1,500/kW up to 20 kW to EUR 1,050/kW above 600 kW and up to 1,000 kW (Ministerial Decree 414/2023, Annex 2).

According to the GSE page consulted on 2 October 2026, the budget is EUR 1,041.5 million: EUR 795.5 million initially plus EUR 246 million added after Law no. 152 of 7 August 2026 came into force. As of 30 November 2025, applications totalled EUR 1,456 million for 3,343.8 MW of plants.

Eligible projects not funded because the budget ran out stay listed for possible later funding and can still receive the premium tariff for 20 years. The GSE Facility CACER Rules (27 March 2026) repealed the requirement to complete works by 30 June 2026.

In the glossary: PNRR grant for CERs and groups of self-consumers, Reduction factor F, Group of self-consumers.

Yes, with grants of up to 40%: the tariff is then reduced by a factor F that varies linearly from 0, with no grant, to 0.50, with a 40% grant. The reduction does not apply to shared energy from withdrawal points held by territorial bodies, religious bodies, third-sector and environmental bodies, and natural persons.

The exemption for natural persons was added, and the one for «local authorities» removed, by MASE Ministerial Decree 127/2025.

If incentivised shared energy exceeds 55% of energy fed in (45% with a capital grant), the excess share of the tariff must go only to non-business consumers or to local social purposes; the GSE checks this annually.

The tariff does not apply to the share of photovoltaic capacity that benefited from the Superbonus, for which only the tariff-refund contribution remains, and it cannot be combined with other operating incentives.

In the glossary: Reduction factor F, Premium tariff (TIP), PNRR grant for CERs and groups of self-consumers.

The tariff applies until the thirtieth day after 5 GW of incentivised capacity is reached, and in any case no later than 31 December 2027 (MASE Ministerial Decree 414/2023, art. 1). The application must be filed with the GSE within 120 days of the plants entering operation.

A late application loses the tariff for the period between entry into operation and the application. Applicants may ask the GSE for a preliminary eligibility check of the project: it is voluntary, not a condition for incentives, and the GSE replies within 60 days.

Under the operating rules (version of 16 July 2025) the GSE pays an estimated monthly advance and, from the following year and by 15 May, a true-up based on actual meter data; for the advance it uses conventional parameters, including a simultaneity coefficient of 0.60. Amounts are paid once they reach EUR 50 (GSE «Corrispettivi e tariffa» page, consulted on 2 October 2026).

Each year the GSE invoices, per plant, a fee covering its costs and offsets it against the incentives: nothing up to 3 kW, EUR 15 between 3 and 20 kW, and above 20 kW EUR 15 plus EUR 1 for each kW beyond the first 20, with VAT added to these amounts (MASE Ministerial Decree 106/2024, Annexes 1 and 2).

In the glossary: Premium tariff (TIP).

Under EU law a renewables PPA is a contract under which a natural or legal person agrees to purchase renewable electricity directly from a producer (Directive (EU) 2018/2001, art. 2(17)). Regulation (EU) 2019/943, as amended in 2024, uses a broader definition: purchase of electricity from a producer on a market basis, not only renewable electricity.

In GME's glossary a «PPA contract» is the contract under art. 28 of Legislative Decree 199/2021, settled through physical delivery of the traded electricity. Directive (EU) 2023/2413 added the notion of renewable energy purchase agreement, which also covers heating and cooling.

Regulation (EU) 2019/943 requires PPAs to specify the bidding zone of delivery and who is responsible for cross-zonal transmission rights if the zone changes, as well as exit terms for customers and producers, such as exit fees and notice periods.

In the glossary: PPA, Physical PPA, Virtual (or financial) PPA.

In a physical PPA the buyer agrees to purchase electricity directly from a producer, with delivery of the electricity. A virtual PPA, also called financial or synthetic, is a financial agreement between producer and buyer that does not involve physical delivery of the traded electricity.

A sleeved PPA is a physical PPA facilitated by an intermediary, such as a supplier, trader or aggregator, that manages profile and volume between generation and consumption. In an on-site or private-wire PPA the plant is connected directly to the consumption site, behind the meter; in a multi-buyer PPA several buyers jointly purchase energy from one or more plants.

These definitions come from the study for the European Commission (DG ENER) of May 2026. Under Italian law, a plant directly connected to the final customer's installation is the case of on-site individual self-consumption (Legislative Decree 199/2021, art. 30): see the self-consumption answers.

In the glossary: Physical PPA, Virtual (or financial) PPA, Sleeved PPA, On-site (private wire) PPA, Multi-buyer PPA, Efficient user system (SEU).

Yes, for the energy the plant feeds into the grid. Legislative Decree 199/2021 provides that in groups of self-consumers and in renewable energy communities surplus energy may also be sold through renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs), directly or through aggregation.

In configurations incentivised under the CACER Decree all electricity produced and fed in remains the producer's, who may sell it on the market or to the GSE through dedicated withdrawal. The premium tariff is calculated on shared energy, that is, in each hour, the lower of the energy fed in and the energy withdrawn by the configuration's points; the valorisation fee on its part relating to points under the same primary substation.

The rules on who controls the plants still apply: in a CER all plants, including those provided by a third-party producer who is not a member, must be available to and under the control of the community; in remote self-consumption through the grid, producers may be third parties acting on the self-consumer's instructions.

In the glossary: PPA, Renewable energy community (CER), Shared energy, Dedicated withdrawal (RID), Remote self-consumer.

Under pay-as-produced the buyer pays only for the electricity actually generated by the plant, as measured by its meter: shape risk and much of the volume risk fall on the buyer. Under baseload the buyer pays for a fixed volume over a set period, and the difference between agreed volume and actual output is borne by the producer.

According to the survey in the study for the European Commission (DG ENER, May 2026), based on 157 responses, 60% of PPAs already signed use a pay-as-produced structure, and PPAs are usually signed for terms of 8 to 15 years.

On GME's forward market (MTE), the baseload product is electricity to be delivered in all relevant periods of the delivery period (power exchange Vademecum, update of 31 January 2026).

In the glossary: Pay-as-produced, Baseload, PPA.

The RED Directive, as amended by Directive (EU) 2023/2413, requires Member States to ensure that guarantees of origin can be transferred to the buyer under a renewable energy purchase agreement. A guarantee of origin is an electronic document whose sole function is to prove to a final customer that a share or quantity of energy was produced from renewable sources.

In Italy guarantees of origin are issued by the GSE, are worth 1 MWh each and are traded on GME's M-GO market or bilaterally (GME glossary, consulted on 2 October 2026).

The same provision requires Member States to assess and remove unjustified barriers to long-term renewable energy purchase agreements, including by exploring credit guarantee instruments.

In the glossary: Guarantee of origin (GO), PPA.

Art. 28 of Legislative Decree 199/2021 provides for GME's PPA Bulletin Board, operational since 26 April 2022, and for an organised market platform with voluntary participation, the PPA Market (MPPA), for which MASE-MEF Ministerial Decree no. 152 of 20 June 2025 gave GME development guidelines. The GSE acts as guarantor of last resort for counterparty default risk in long-term contracts traded on the platform.

The Bulletin Board has three sections: anonymous, non-binding announcements to sell or buy, mandatory registration by sellers of concluded PPAs, and Energy Release. Under Ministerial Decree 152/2025 the MPPA trades standardised 5- to 10-year contracts with GME as central counterparty; owners of operating or authorised renewable plants sell and holders of withdrawal points buy.

Decree-Law 21/2026, converted by Law 49/2026, added demand-side sections to the Bulletin Board for contracts of at least three years, including aggregated ones: contracts are signed outside the Board but must be registered on it, and eligible parties may ask the GSE for the guarantee of last resort.

For the GSE guarantee the law provides for costs of up to EUR 45 million a year for 2025, 2026 and 2027. Once these resources are exhausted, SACE may issue market-priced guarantees covering up to 70%, with commitments capped at EUR 250 million for each of 2026 and 2027.

In the glossary: PPA Bulletin Board, PPA Market (MPPA), Guarantee of last resort, Energy Release.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1747, in force since 16 July 2024, inserted into Regulation (EU) 2019/943 an obligation for Member States to promote PPAs and to make accessible instruments, such as guarantee schemes at market prices, that reduce the risk of buyer payment default. These instruments must be accessible to customers that face entry barriers to the PPA market and are not in financial difficulty.

Support schemes for renewable electricity must allow the participation of projects that reserve part of their electricity for sale through PPAs or other market-based arrangements, provided this does not harm competition (art. 19a(5) of Regulation 2019/943).

For contracts concluded from 17 July 2027, direct price support for new wind, solar, geothermal, run-of-river hydro and nuclear generation must take the form of two-way contracts for difference or equivalent schemes. The regulation requires the Commission to assess, by 31 January 2026 and every two years thereafter, whether barriers persist in PPA markets and whether transparency is sufficient; ACER publishes an annual assessment of the PPA market.

In the glossary: PPA, Two-way contract for difference (CfD), Guarantee of last resort.

The full FER X scheme (MASE Ministerial Decree no. 194 of 18 June 2026, in force since 7 August 2026) supports plants of 200 kW and above with a two-way contract for difference for 20 years: the electricity stays with the producer, who sells it on the market. The decree allows support to be requested for only part of a plant's capacity and, where auction bids tie, gives priority to projects with long-term supply contracts of at least 10 years.

The GSE pays or claws back the difference between the awarded price and the higher of zero and the hourly zonal day-ahead price; below 200 kW the GSE may buy the electricity at an all-inclusive tariff. The maximum quota is 37.15 GW: 10 GW for plants up to 1 MW with direct access and 27.15 GW for larger plants through GSE competitive procedures.

The study for the European Commission (DG ENER, May 2026) lists the FER X CfD auctions among the factors that may affect the size of Italy's PPA market.

In the glossary: FER X, Two-way contract for difference (CfD), Day-ahead market (MGP), Zonal price (Pz).

The study for the European Commission (DG ENER, May 2026) classifies Italy as a mature, rapidly growing PPA market, fourth largest in Europe and solar-dominated. In its average scenario the gap between potential renewable PPA supply and demand in Italy is 21.01 TWh in 2030 and 95.22 TWh in 2035.

In that scenario supply is 68.54 TWh and demand 47.53 TWh in 2030; in 2035 supply is 164.83 TWh and demand 69.61 TWh. At EU level the study estimates for 2030 a greenfield PPA supply potential of 350 to 500 TWh and demand of 200 to 300 TWh, with estimates that assume low merchant risk appetite and a gradual reduction of public support.

According to Terna, at 31 December 2025 Italy had 83,529 MW of renewable capacity installed, including 43,513 MW of solar and 13,629 MW of wind; in 2025 electricity consumption was 311.3 TWh, 41% of it covered by renewables (press release of 21 January 2026).

In the glossary: PPA, Greenfield and brownfield PPA.

It is the mechanism under art. 1 of Decree-Law 181/2023 through which the GSE advances renewable electricity, with its guarantees of origin, to energy-intensive companies for 36 months through two-way contracts for difference. In return the companies build new renewable capacity and return the energy over 20 years.

Plants must be at least 200 kW and have at least twice the capacity used for repayment. According to the GSE the mechanism is implemented by Ministerial Decree no. 268 of 23 July 2024, amended by Ministerial Decree no. 204 of 29 July 2025; expressions of interest were submitted on the E-Release portal between 14 November 2024 and 3 March 2025.

For forward renewable electricity contracts between energy-intensive companies and third-party producers, the law promotes the use of the GME platform provided for by art. 28 of Legislative Decree 199/2021. The first Energy Release, under MiTE Ministerial Decree no. 341 of 16 September 2022, runs in the Energy Release section of the PPA Bulletin Board.

In the glossary: Energy Release, Two-way contract for difference (CfD), Guarantee of origin (GO), PPA Bulletin Board.

In a two-way CfD a counterpart, usually public, guarantees the plant operator a minimum remuneration and caps excess remuneration: if the market price is below the agreed price the counterpart pays the difference, and if it is above the producer pays it back. In a one-way CfD the producer receives the difference when the price falls below the strike price and pays nothing back when it is higher.

From 17 July 2027, direct price support for new wind, solar, geothermal, run-of-river hydro and nuclear generation must take the form of two-way CfDs or equivalent schemes (Regulation (EU) 2019/943, art. 19d).

In Italy the full FER X scheme uses a two-way CfD on the hourly zonal day-ahead price, for 20 years.

In the glossary: Two-way contract for difference (CfD), One-way contract for difference, FER X, Day-ahead market (MGP).