Agrivoltaic, European energy ready to invest 500 million

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The investment project in Italy by European energy (EE), a Danish company specialized in the construction of parks, rises by around half a billion euros, and turns decidedly towards agrivoltaics, with 70-80% of the sum dedicated to that type of solution. to produce renewable energy. Also underlining the push towards the mix between solar and agriculture is the agreement, just signed, between Ee Italia and the University of Tuscia in Viterbo-Cirder (Integrated Center for Research and Dissemination of Renewable Energy). Alessandro Migliorini explains the group’s plans, and also the purpose of the agreement with the university, country manager e director of Ee Italia, which, in January 2022, announced that the company was activating 2 billion in investments in photovoltaic, wind, biogas and hydrogen in Italy.

One decree to this end

To these are now added, says Migliorini, another 500 million, largely aimed at agrivoltaics. Also because, he clarifies, «in the last 2-3 years there has been a proliferation of regulations on the subject, which arises partly from conflicts with the Ministry of Culture, the superintendencies and from the question of land consumption, which then resulted in a regulatory document which provides for the so-called suitable and unsuitable areas. And there was also the production of a specific decree on agrivoltaics, which provides more than a billion euros of support for this type of application. We therefore believe that, in the future, it will be increasingly difficult to do traditional solar energy without agriculture under the panels. Even the EU, with the Red 3 directive, should push even further down this path.” Precisely by virtue of these new regulations, Migliorini continues, «Italy today positions itself as one of the key market, not only for us but in general for all global investors. Especially since there is now a draft decree, Fer

To complete Ee’s investment plan in Italy, «it will take – says Migliorini – four or five years, counting both the structures for which we already have the authorizations and those that we will ask to authorize; but it is clear that, in the meantime, we will fill it up more and more pipeline of projects”.

The agreement with Unituscia

The agreement with Unituscia, underlines the manager, was made precisely to follow the direction of agrivoltaics: «We will have a collaboration thanks to which, on each project, they will support us in identifying the best crop and, in the authorization phase, also to represent to the authorities what will be done underneath the panels and, therefore, to optimize the agricultural part. It is important, when requesting authorizations, to show that the cultivation you are going to do is typical of the place or that, in any case, it is feasible. Moreover, we have projects under development in practically all the regions of Italy and, above all, in those with a great agricultural vocation, such as Veneto, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna”.

The collaboration with Unituscia, concludes Migliorini, includes, among other things, purposes relating to digital agriculture, renewable energy, teaching and professional training, aimed at public and private interlocutors, the chamber of commerce system, businesses and students. Furthermore, the partnership will be structured «in the context of research and towards the development of new plants, designed according to the best practices technological”.