Coal fired power plants in Italy from past to future

A relevant source of global emissions of CO2 from human activities is due to the industrial processes. The burning of fossil fuels to generate energy, in particular the combustion of coal, is considered one of the largest responsible for the industrial emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The coal power plants are regulated by the EU legislation on Industrial Emissions Directive - integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC-IED). According to such a piece of legislation, IPPC permits should be based on best available techniques (BAT) in order to reach an adequate level of environmental protection (Evrad et al., 2016; Cafaro et al., 2015) and should establish all the necessary measures including operating conditions, emission limit values for relevant polluting substances as well as monitoring requirements. Possible emissions to water, air, soil as well as energy efficiency, waste production, use of raw materials as well as recovering and recycling, prevention of accidents and restoration of the site upon closure are taken into account in IPPC permits. The present paper provides a rapid glimpse into the operation conditions of coal fired power plant as presented in Cafaro et al., 2018. Moreover, in Italy the reviews of the permits for such installations shall match to the decarbonisation scenarios, as identified by the Italian policy strategy "Strategia Energetica Nazionale (2017)", adopted by decree of 10 November 2017. Such a strategy foresees a time horizon for the coal phase out at 2025 and, at the same time, a continuous support for renewables and energy efficiency. The goal will be achieved by means of management and technical actions on the infrastructures facilities and on the electrical grid to guarantee a safe national system and an adequate production of energy increasing renewable sources and gas. As a matter of fact such this set of specific measures also allows to achieve the sustainable and environmental objectives as agreed in Paris in 2015 during COP21 with regard to the commitment to move towards low-carbon and resource-efficient energy models.