Energy major Shell has acquired 100% of PV project developer Solar-Konzept Italia (SKI), taking its solar development pipeline in Italy to around 2GW in the process.
Shell acquired the business from Germany-based developer Solar-Konzept International as part of efforts to expand its renewables portfolio in Italy, a country it describes as a “priority market” for the company.
SKI’s ten-person team will be integrated into Shell Italy and bring experience in the development of agrivoltaic projects.
The team will develop the business’s current portfolio, pursue new projects and support Shell’s corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) offerings, said Ivan Niosi, head of renewables power development at Shell Italy, who has been appointed SKI CEO.
“This deal accelerates our ongoing efforts in Italy and will make us one of the leading solar developers in Italy,” Niosi said.
Last week, Italian energy company Eni announced its entry into the Greek renewables generation market with the acquisition of Solar-Konzept Greece (SKGR) from Solar-Konzept International.
SKGR has a pipeline of solar projects in Greece at various stages of development totalling around 800MW that will form the basis for Eni’s further development in the country.
According to Eni, Solar-Konzept International is majority owned by Aquila Capital, a Germany-based asset development company that recently acquired a majority stake in a 421MW Italian solar portfolio from developer Powertis. As reported by PV Tech yesterday, that deal also includes 90MW of energy storage and will see the partners co-develop the installations.
Shell’s expansion in Italy’s solar sector follows the company signing PPAs for a 70.5MW PV portfolio in the country back in 2018.
The company’s global solar strategy has seen it acquire a minority stake in US independent power producer Silicon Ranch, while last month it bought US utility-scale solar and energy storage developer Savion from Macquarie’s Green Investment Group.
