Italy

The “largest European thin-film solar cell manufacturing plant” will begin operation after receiving production certification. Midsummer executive Erik Olsson tells pv magazine Italy that production is expected to start after the summer, at a time of sharp increase in demand for thin-film photovoltaic cells from the commercial and industrial solar segment.

The Generali Group company has signed an agreement to acquire a minority share of Enel Libra Flexsys, which aims to roll out 1.7 GW of battery energy storage projects in Italy. “Revenues are fully contracted for 15 years through capacity agreements with Enel as well as capacity payments from Enel that are backed by Terna, Italy’s transmission system operator,” Sosteneo says.

In the apostolic letter “Brother Sun,” the pontiff announced the agrivoltaic system for the “complete energy sustenance” of the country. The plant will be built in the countryside of Rome’s 49th district.

After finding growth in its home market and Poland, Czech Republic-based Woltair raised venture capital to expand its heat pump and solar PV software platform, used by both installers and homeowners, into Germany and Italy.

Javier Izcue, vice president SG Europe at Sungrow, tells pv magazine that Italy will install 30 GW of batteries by 2030, but notes that the boom is not looming in the near term, as previously predicted.

The Italian authorities have allocated 243.3 MW of renewables capacity in the nation’s 14th procurement exercise for clean energy. Developers have offered a maximum discount ranging between 2% and 5.5% from the auction ceiling price of €0.07746 ($0.083)/kWh.

In an interview with pv magazine, Linda Kalcher, executive director at European think tank Strategic Perspectives, described the possible consequences of the recent EU elections on the continent’s energy landscape. “Investors and businesses need security and predictability to thrive,” she said. “If cleantech is not manufactured here, the jobs and investments go to the US and China and a deindustrialisation looms. This cannot be in the interest of any politician,”

Portuguese and Italian researchers have shown that the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) is lower onshore and that PV-wind configurations reduce the LCOH up to 70%, while Lhyfe says it has started collaborating on a hydrogen storage project.

The European Union has drawn up new regulations to boost the domestic mining of raw materials and support production of renewable energy products and materials at home. Will it be enough to incentivize investment, or will Europe trail other major economies, such as the United States and China?

A research team including scientists from Italian module manufacturer 3Sun has tested new zirconium-doped indium oxide electrodes in commercial heterojunction solar modules. The new electrodes reportedly achieve the same performance as their counterparts based on indium tin oxide and paves the way for lower indium consumption in heterojunction products.