Danish renewables developer European Energy has broken ground on a 103MW project in Italy, bringing a utility-scale newcomer to the Southern European state.
A recent statement from the firm billed the under-construction Troia PV project, set to be operational in early 2020, as Italy's largest to date.
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After steady growth between 2009 and 2012, the Italian PV market was devastated by the phase-out of state subsidies in July 2013. Total installed capacity stalled in the 18GW-19GW region between 2012 and 2018, according to IRENA statistics.
European Energy's new southern Italian project fell victim to industry paralysis. According to a statement by CEO Knud Erik Anderson, the Troia project had “been sitting fallow for seven years” before the firm purchased it in Feburary.
The utility-scale addition finds Italy in the midst of a reboot of its renewable policies, after EU authorities green-lighted in June a scheme to inject €5.4 billion (nearly US$6 billion) into PV, wind and others via contracts for difference-style auctions.
Over the past twelve months, Shell and Swiss utility Axpo have successfully solicited private PPA agreements for energy from utility-scale Italian solar projects – the latter for 300MW annually from European Energy.
Development costs in Italy are falling dramatically. A review of global cost declines across key PV markets between 2010 and 2018 by IRENA found that Italian utility-scale projects had the second most acute cost drop of any worldwide PV market, at 78%.
European Energy reported €22.4 million (US$24.7 million) profit before tax for the first half of 2019, a sharp increase from the €900,000 (US$990,000) it reported the year prior.
The firm sold six subsidy-era Spanish solar projects with a combined capacity of 10.1MW in the first half of 2019. The sale frees up “significant liquidity” according to Anderson.
It also closed a green bond of €140 million (around US$154 million) at 5.35% interest in June, the proceeds of which will fund new renewables projects.
