COGEN Europe, the European Association for the promotion of cogeneration, this year awarded its prize "COGEN Europe Recognition Awards" to Italy and the Ministry of Economic Development for its White Certificates incentive scheme. The prize is awarded annually to entities, institutions and businesses that stand out for their actions contributing to spread cogeneration and energy efficiency culture. As such, the White Certificates mechanism has gained further recognition at European level for promoting energy efficiency for more than ten years, also thanks to its regular update. An expert panel awarded the 2015 prize to Italy for its White Certificates/Energy Efficiency Credits as "Policy Development Award".
Italcogen, the Italian Association representing manufacturers and distributors for cogeneration and heat recovery within ANIMA/Confindustria, as Cogen Europe Italian partner, invited the Ministry of Economic Development to receive the prize on the occasion of the Gala Dinner during Cogen Europe Annual Conference, that was held this year on 19th and 20th May. Officials from the European Commission also attended the Conference. Among them were Marie Donnelly and Paul Hodson, who have been both involved in policies for cogeneration for years.
Italian Minister Federica Guidi being unable to attend the event, Itacolgen's President Marco Golinelli received the award of her behalf. "It is an important recognition", said Italcogen's Vice-President Marco Baresi, also present in Brussels "which proves once again how energy efficiency is a rewarding choice, as it has also been recently demonstrated by the report of the European working group EEFIG "Energy Efficiency - the first fuel for the EU Economy" which Italcogen actively took part to, contributing to setting up the Italian country team.
