Italy

A refinery of Italian oil product provider Saras will host a large scale electrolyzer that will produce hydrogen to be used as a raw material in the refinery itself. The green energy production will be set up by Italian energy company Enel.

The Italian energy provider agreed to buy 17 unsubsidized solar plants from U.K.-based Octopus Renewables for €205 million.

Italian start-up Italvolt wants to build a €4 billion EV battery manufacturing facility in Italy. The site for the project is currently being identified, and the factory’s initial capacity should reach 45 GWh.

The poor outcome of Italy’s recent auctions for large scale solar suggests that the next tender will have similar results. pv magazine has spoken with two major experts from the Italian PV sector who claim that a change of pace is required, hinging on a streamlined authorization process, more competition and a focus on agricultural land.

The French energy business said PV made up 21% of the 3 GW of new renewables generation capacity it installed last year, with the majority of its total new clean power facilities arriving in North America.

In a recent media brief, new Enel Green Power CEO Salvatore Bernabei discussed the company’s operating results for 2020 and its future strategies across several markets. pv magazine asked him questions about new solar plans, recent auction prices and the PV module factory the Italian group operates in Catania, in southern Italy. Bernabei also made it clear that he wants to bet on green and not blue or grey hydrogen for the company’s next step into the energy transition.

Companies from a dozen EU member states will commit the public funds in a bid to come up with novel battery chemistries and production methods as well as recycling and circular economy innovation.

The Italian authorities have awarded three solar projects in yet another under-subscribed renewables tender. The lowest bid in the procurement exercise came in at €0.06819/kWh and was submitted for a 10 MW solar project. All bids were slightly below the ceiling price of €0.07/kWh. Wind secured most of the assigned capacity.

The Italian inverter maker said the two devices were designed to deal with increasing PV module currents. The inverters have a power output ranging from 10 to 33 kW and are claimed to reach an input voltage of 1100 V (DC).

European renewables, including Spanish solar, made big gains as energy demand recovered before the second wave of Covid infections. Nuclear was a notable loser, in part because clean energy volumes in the north of the continent drove down power prices sufficiently to make reactors uncompetitive.