Renewable energy developer Hive Energy will sell 200MW worth of Italian agrivoltaic PV projects to GreenIT, a renewable energy joint venture between Italian energy provider Plenitude and investor CDP Equity.
Hive will bring the projects to a ready-to-build stage in the coming months, at which point the portfolio will be taken over by GreenIT to be built and maintained. They will be built in the southern regions of Apulia and Sicily, as well as the central region of Lazio.
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The projects will deploy agriPV technology; the practice of pairing solar PV modules with agricultural activities, using the land for both purposes. In this instance, Hive said that the projects will see raised modules installed above agriculture, which can provide benefits for crops, livestock and panel efficiency. The company did not clarify the nature of the agriculture in question.
Hive said that it is developing a 700MW pipeline of projects across Italy, but that this is its first project sale in the country.
Stefano Salerno, Italian country manager at Hive Energy, said: “I am delighted that we have reached this important milestone of successfully signing our first solar PV projects deal in Italy. We welcome this relationship with GreenIT which has been very positive for Hive and look forward to these projects helping to accelerate the energy transition in Italy.”
Earlier this month the Italian government submitted its updated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) for review at the EU headquarters in Brussels. In it, the government outlined its goal to generate 65% of national electricity output with renewables by 2030.
The country’s solar market specifically is growing: Regionally the south of the country is a solar hotbed, and in terms of sector the rooftop market more than doubled in 2022.
Agrivoltaics is already in use in Italy. Elsewhere in Europe, the Dutch government announced significant limitations to the deployment of solar on agricultural land last week, which was met with pushback by solar trade body Holland Solar.
