Eni builds first solar park at Italian facilities

Italian oil company, Eni and Italy’s government-run energy agency, Gestore dei Servizi Energetici, which is responsible for the implementation of the country’s renewable energy plans, have jointly announced that a 26 MW solar park is currently being built at Eni’s industrial site, Assemini, near Cagliari, on the Italian island of Sardinia.

Eni said the solar park will cover around 70% of the energy needs of a salt production site of local company Conti Vecchi, which is located within the same industrial site as Assemini.

The construction of the plant is part of the Progetto Italia, a series of initiatives from the oil giant, aimed at “adding sustainable value to its disused industrial areas, especially in Southern Italy.”

The project, which was presented along with the Strategic Plan for the four-year period 2018-2021, includes a 220 MW PV project pipeline to be realized at the company’s facilities across Italy. In April, Eni already identified 25 industrial sites that could potentially host the power plants.

The first phase of the pipeline envisages the construction of five solar plants totaling 70 MW, while the second phase will entail another 150 MW deployed across nine systems.

These projects, the company said in its statement, are expected to start commercial operations in 2021 and will produce approximately 0.4 TWh per year.

Eni entered the renewable energy business in 2015 with the creation of a new Energy Solutions department. Since September 2017, it ihas been cooperating with Algeria’s Sonatrach, a government-backed power company, under the guise of GSA (Sonatrach-Agip Groupement), to build a 10 MW PV plant in the country. The company is also planning to build a 20 MW solar plant in Ghana.