Keppel MET Renewables (KMR) has purchased a 100% stake in a solar project in southern Italy with a capacity of 38MWp, its latest investment in the Italian solar sector.
The company, a joint venture operated by Swiss power company the MET Group and Singapore-based engineering firm Keppel, purchased the stake yesterday (6 September). It noted that the project, based in the Apulia region of south-east Italy, is at “an early stage of development”, and expects to finish construction work in 2025. The group then expects to begin commercial operations at the project the following year.
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“Keppel is pleased that KMR is expanding its geographical presence in Europe, accelerating the growth of its renewable energy portfolio, and contributing towards advancing Europe’s energy transition,” said Tan Boon Leng, managing director of projects, supply chain and HSSE at Keppel’s infrastructure division.
“The completion of KMR’s latest acquisition is another step forward in expanding its presence in Western Europe’s burgeoning renewables sector, which includes other interesting markets such as France, Germany, Portugal and Spain.”
The project is KMR’s latest project in its growing European portfolio. When the MET Group and Keppel first formed the KMR joint venture in 2022, it aimed to install 1GW of renewable capacity by mid-2025.
Work such as this is also the latest renewable power investment from the MET Group itself, which aims to install 2GW of operating renewable capacity by 2026. With three operating liquified natural gas import harbours already in Italy, investments such as this will help MET decarbonise its operations in the region.
“We are targeting further growth of wind and solar projects across the EU, acquiring assets along the whole value chain: greenfield investments, ready-to-build projects, as well as brownfield investments,” said Benjamin Lakatos, chairman and CEO of the MET Group.
The news follows significant positive news in the Italian solar sector, with industry association Italia Solare reporting that new capacity installations were 129% higher in the first half of 2023 than in the first half of 2022.