Spanish utility Iberdrola has commissioned a 243MW solar PV plant in Italy, the country’s largest in operation.
Located in the southern region of Sicily, the Fénix PV plant has secured long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with undisclosed Italian companies for 70% of the project’s generation.
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Construction of the solar PV project began in March 2024 and was carried out by renewables developer ib vogt. More than 413.000 bifacial modules were installed at the Fénix project. At the time of the announcement, the company said that a further 60MW could be added to the PV project and bring its total capacity to 305MW.
The project was financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) with Italy’s SACE’s Archimede Guarantee, a state-backed guarantee scheme designed to unlock up to €60 billion (US$68 billion) in financing for large-scale infrastructural, ecological, and digital investments through 2029.
“Sicily, with its extraordinary potential and an enabling, forward-looking institutional environment, confirms itself as a strategic region for the future of renewable energy in Europe,” said Valerio Faccenda, country manager at Iberdrola Italia.
Moreover, the company has a pipeline of nearly 145 projects under development in Italy. Combined, the projects represent a total potential capacity of 6.8GW, which will enable the company to reach an installed capacity of 700MW by 2028. A target that is close to reach as the 243MW solar PV project adds to the already more than 400MW installed earlier this year, when it acquired a 42MW PV plant in the central region of Lazio.
