Enel Green Power is awarded 80 MW of wind energy in Italy

In a country that for years based its renewable energy policy purely on incentives, recent talk of “tenders and bids” seems a bit unsettling. Fortunately, this way of doing business is back under the spotlight thanks to the PNIEC (National Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate) aiming, among other things, to increase the country’s share of renewable power to 55% by 2030. And much more.

Renewables have proved more convenient than fossil-based sources and above all, they’re universally recognized as the essential asset to tackle climate change.

Considering Italy’s regulatory context, the series of tenders first issued last October by GSE (Italy’s Energy Services Managing body) are a real game-changer.

We’ve been awarded 60 MW of new renewable capacity for 3 wind farms and 20 MW for the refurbishment and upgrade of existing wind and hydropower plants. Specifically, we’ve participated in a tender issuing a total of 500 MW for new wind farms and solar parks, as well as 60 MW for the refurbishment of hydroelectric power plants and wind farms with an output exceeding 1 MW.

Such a result represents a decisive contribution in reaching both the country’s and the Group’s decarbonization goals.

“With this award we confirm our dedication to the growth of renewables in Italy, a key country for our business and for our commitment in the energy transition towards a more sustainable electricity generation model. The investments in the development of new renewable capacity will contribute to the decarbonization objectives of the Group and the country, supporting the progressive replacement of fossil sources with those with zero emissions.”

– Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green Power and director of Enel Global Power Generation
New construction works underway in record time

Three Italian regions will each house a new wind farm: Sicily, Molise, and Campania. The goal is very ambitious since we’re slated to break ground in 2020 in order to gradually start getting the wind farms online by 2021.

The extra 20 MW allotted focus instead on the upgrade and lifecycle extension of 4 operational EGP power plants in Molise, Sardinia, Piedmont, and Tuscany. Even in this case, we’re pushing a very aggressive schedule: between 2020 and 2021, all refurbishment works will be underway.

With the adjudication of this very first tender, EGP renews its pledge to grow renewable power, both in Italy and throughout the world. Our renewables expansion plan plans to develop 14.1 GW-worth of new global capacity in the 2020-2022 timeframe, aiming for the 60 GW mark in total capacity by 2022.

In Italy, EGP manages an overall renewable capacity of more than 14 GW, equal to approximately half of the Group’s managed capacity in the country. In 2019, Enel produced in the country around 24 TWh from renewable sources, equal to 52% of its overall energy production in Italy and 21% of the national energy production from renewable sources.

Building new capacity and upgrading existing plants in Italy are part of the Enel Group’s broader commitment to the growth of renewables and decarbonization, which will involve, over the 2020-2022 period, the development in the country of 700 MW of new renewable capacity and for which EGP has developed a pipeline of around 1.3 GW that can enter into service in the same period.