The head of the Italian operation of Swiss energy company Axpo has said the country can follow European peers such as Spain by embracing the demand for non-subsidized solar power.
Axpo Italia CEO Simone Demarchi today hailed his company's agreement to buy an estimated 22 GWh per year of clean electricity from Canadian Solar as a turning point for Italy.
Quoted in a press release issued by Sino-Canadian solar manufacturer and project developer Canadian Solar, Demarchi said: “Agreements such as long-term PPAs [power purchase agreements] finally allow the market and all the actors involved to definitively exit the incentive logic … The hope is that this trend, which is already well established in Europe, will soon achieve stability in Italy as well.”
Canadian said it had secured Axpo's signature on a ten-year power purchase agreement related to two solar plants planned in Sicily which will have a combined generation capacity of 12 MWp. Construction of the facilities, near Ragusa and Enna, will start this year, said the Ontario-headquartered developer.
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The PPA was signed as part of a wider framework deal between the two parties, announced in November, for up to 300 MWp of Italian solar.
Announcing the Sicilian power offtake agreement, Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Shawn Qu said his company has a solar pipeline “in excess of 1.3 GWp” in Italy.
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