Rome, February 1st, 2022 - In the seventh round of renewable energy source (RES) tenders called by the GSE (Gestore Servizi Energetici – Energy Service Provider) - from the "auctions" and "registers" quotas - Enel Green Power Italia and Enel Produzione have been awarded 129.6* MW split between new renewable capacity and refurbishment of hydropower plants already in service. Of the total capacity awarded, 89.2 MW come from two new solar capacity projects, to be built in the Piedmont region and Sicily, with construction work starting in 2022. Likewise, 37.3* MW come from the refurbishment of three hydro plants already in operation in the Basilicata, Campania and Lazio regions. The remaining 3.1 MW* relate to new renewable capacity from the “registers” quota, with a total of eight projects, including six projects for new solar capacity on the roofs of Enel buildings and on Enel land - in Tuscany, Lombardy and Campania regions -, a hydropower plant in Sicily and a project to refurbish an existing hydropower plant in the Marche region.
The seventh GSE renewable energy sources auction recorded a total offering of only 1,232 MW with projects awarded for 975 MW, equal to just under 30% of the 3,313 MW made available under the "auction - new renewable capacity >1 MW" (Group A) quota.
"The result of the seventh GSE auction confirms the trends that were recorded in previous auctions, which began in October 2019," commented Salvatore Bernabei, Enel’s Head of Enel Green Power and Thermal Generation. “In line with the positive signals coming from Italy’s Simplification Decree ‘Bis’ published last year, there is a continued urgency to put in place concrete measures to guarantee certainty and reduce the time required for authorization procedures, with full harmonization of local and central legislation on Italy's decarbonization objectives. In the coming months, we await the issuance of the implementing decrees provided for by Italy’s Legislative Decree n.199 / 2021 transposing RED II and further improvements to the legislation in order to give greater certainty to operators in a key sector for economic recovery.”
The construction of new renewable capacity and the refurbishment of existing plants in Italy form part of the Enel Group’s broader commitment to the growth of renewables and decarbonization. In Italy, the Group’s target development of new renewable capacity between 2022 and 2024 is 1 GW.
Enel’s 2022-2024 Strategic Plan foresees a global increase in additional capacity from renewable energy sources of 21.2 GW, to reach a total capacity of 75 GW.
* for hydropower plants the power value represented is the concession value