Enel starts building 170 MW of agrivoltaics in Italy

Enel Green Power has started building a 170 MW agrivoltaics plant in Viterbo, Italy. The Rome-based company claims it will be Italy’s largest agrivoltaics installation upon completion. The plant will feature bifacial PV modules mounted on trackers, both from undisclosed manufacturers.

Enel is using a “solar-first” approach to solar and agriculture, with electricity generation remaining the main goal. Its approach is designed to retrofit large-scale solar plants to allow crops to grow between the trackers and the panels. Agriculture is integrated into existing solar farms, rather than the other way around, as is often the case in agrivoltaics projects.

“The solar plant we are building in Tarquinia shows that an increase in the use of renewable energy can be harmoniously combined with agricultural activities,” said Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power. “In fact, this plant will seamlessly integrate with the local area and will host crops, resulting in a positive impact on the environment, the economy, and the local area, as well as helping to reduce Italy’s energy dependency.”

Around 330 employees from local companies will be involved in the construction of the Tarquinia plant. It is scheduled for completion within 13 months.