The Ministry of Enterprise and Industry and the GSE have finally released the long-awaited operational circular on the Transition 5.0 plan. This document is a real compass for companies wishing to seize the opportunity of the incentive dedicated to the double digital and green transition for the two-year period 2024-2025.
What does the circular contain in brief?
The operational circular, a meaty document full of details, is a comprehensive handbook for companies and technicians involved in the transition process. It covers a wide range of crucial topics:
- Criteria for determining energy savings: the circular goes into detail on the criteria for calculating energy savings, providing practical examples and case studies to help companies understand whether to refer to the production structure or process concerned. In addition, it offers a focus on the concept of the ‘counterfactual scenario’ and presents numerical examples for calculating the reduction in energy consumption;
- Eligible investments: the document provides further details on driven investments, such as plants for self-production of energy from renewable sources for self-consumption, training activities and all those software, systems, platforms or applications for plant intelligence that monitor energy consumption and self-produced energy, introducing energy efficiency mechanisms;
- There is also a focus on compliance with the DNSH (Do No Significant Harm) principle, which ensures that investments do not cause significant damage to the environment;
- Procedures for accessing the incentive: the circular devotes ample space to the procedures for accessing the incentive, with sections dedicated to the prior communication (ex ante), the communication of the progress of the innovation project, the communication of the completion of the innovation project (ex post) and the technical reports that must accompany the ex ante and ex post certification;
- Calculation of the tax credit: the ‘didactic’ part of the circular concludes with some examples of calculation of the tax credit due, helping companies to understand how to quantify the economic benefit deriving from investments.
Scenarios for calculating energy savings
The circular defines four scenarios for calculating energy savings, which vary according to the seniority of the company and the availability of energy consumption data:
- Enterprises active for more than 12 months with measured data: energy savings are calculated directly on the basis of available data;
- Enterprises that have been in operation for more than 12 months without measured data: energy savings are estimated by analysing energy loads based on traceable data, such as data sheets, modelling, on-site testing, literature data, etc;
- Companies active for 6 to 12 months with measured data: energy savings are calculated on the basis of available data, reproportioned over the entire year;
- Newly established companies or companies with recent substantial changes: energy consumption is determined by defining a counterfactual scenario, identifying alternative goods available on the market and averaging their energy consumption.
Technical report: a key document
The circular emphasises the importance of the technical report, which must contain the prior communication (ex ante), the communication on the progress of the innovation project, and the communication on the completion of the innovation project (ex post). The three communications are made through the GSE platform, following the guided paths and instructions. Entities qualified to certify energy savings include Ege and ESCOs, such as Quantum Srl, certified ISO 11352 since 2015.
This detailed document describes the context of the project, production processes, energy consumption, planned investments and energy saving calculation methodologies. It is essential to keep it, also in view of possible inspections by the GSE.
Ready for Transition 5.0?
The publication of the operational circular is an important step in making the Transition 5.0 plan more accessible and understandable for companies. If your company is ready to invest in the dual digital and green transition, this document is a valuable resource for successfully navigating through the opportunities offered by the incentive.
Don’t waste time and get ready to seize this opportunity to make your company more sustainable and competitive!
Sources: innovationpost.it, mimit.gov.it