Public-private partnership
Using government subsidies for solar photovoltaic panels, the municipality of Provaglio d’Iseo in northern Italy partnered with a local bank to provide free solar panels to local residents. In exchange for lending the municipality use of their roof, the residents receive a 50% reduction in their bills and the municipality receives the subsidy which allows it to service the loan from the bank. After twenty years, the ownership of the plant and the benefit of all of the generated electricity reverts to the families themselves. Assuming a 30 year life-span for the panels, this will save them an additional €14,000 (Corriere della Sera, 2007).
The driver for this project was a local plan supported by the municipality which contained a strategic environmental assessment, with targets to reduce the area’s use of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions (Provaglio d’Iseo Council, 2005).