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Abstract. Photovoltaic power is characterized by higher costs than coal-fired technologies. Thus, photovoltaic systems require policy support to become more affordable. This is even more important if the goals -set by Directive 2009/28/EC-must be achieved by 2020. The present paper carefully describes the economical feasibility of a large scale photovoltaic plant, with specific regard to the Italian situation. An Italian case study is investigated and attention is paid to an extremely important tool, i.e. Project Financing. In order to better understand the economical assessment, recent public incentives and supporting measures are taken into account. After analyzing the cash flows and evaluating the Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), the resultsobtained by the simulation for different Feed-In Tariff (FIT)s-show that the income is influenced by the date of commissioning and by the amount of incentives.

In order to face the growing energy demands, renewable energy sources can provide an alternative to fossil fuels. Thus, low-enthalpy geothermal plants may play a fundamental role in those areas—such as the Province of Viterbo—where shallow groundwater basins occur and conventional geothermal plants cannot be developed. This may lead to being fuelled by locally available sources. The aim of the present paper is to exploit the heat coming from a low-enthalpy geothermal system. The experimental plant consists in a down-hole heat exchanger for civil purposes and can supply thermal needs by district heating. An implementation in MATLAB environment is provided in order to develop a mathematical model. As a consequence, the amount of withdrawable heat can be successfully calculated.

Biomass is increasingly used for energy generation since it represents a useful alternative to fossil fuel in order to face the pollutions and the global warming problem. It can be exploited for heating purposes and for supplying domestic hot water. The most common applications encompass wood and pellet boilers. The economic aspect is becoming an important issue in order to achieve the ambitious targets set by the European Directives on Renewable Sources. Thus, the present paper deals with the economic feasibility of biomass boiler plants with specific regard to an existing residential building. An Italian case study is further investigated, focusing the attention on European and national regulations on energy efficiency and considering the recent public incentives and supporting measures. The main thermoclimatic parameters—that is, heating degree days (HDDs), building thermal insulation and thermal needs—are taken into account. Moreover, the following economic indicators are calculated: cumulative cash flow, discounted cumulative cash flow, payback period (PP), net present value (NPV), Internal rate of return (IRR), discounted payback period (DPP), and profit index (PI).