Italy has allocated 413MW of solar PV and wind capacity in its ninth renewables auction, according to figures from energy management agency GSE.
Solar projects were predominant in the allocation with 41 out of 46 projects awarded, with 262.2MW for solar PV plants with a capacity of more than 1MW.
Among the bidders securing solar capacity are independent power producer (IPP) Sonnedix, Italian utility group Acea and Italy-headquartered Falck Renewables.
Projects awarded are scattered throughout Italy, with the regions of Piemonte, Veneto and Emilia Romagna getting more than 40% of all the solar projects.
While this auction improves the results of the previous one held this summer, which allocated 306MW of solar and wind, it is however less than half the nearly 1GW allocated in the seventh renewables auction.
Other European countries were more successful this year with their own auctions, with Ireland awarding 1.5GW of solar PV in its second RESS auction and Portugal’s floating solar auction closing with record negative price.
For the first time in almost a decade, Italy deployed more than 1GW of solar PV during the first half of the year and is on track to have its best year in a decade.
Italy’s government launched a €1.5 billion (US$1.45 billion) scheme this August that aims to incentivise the installation of agrivoltaic projects.