Italy's Council of Ministers has given the green light to the construction of 13 agrivoltaic projects, totaling 593.6 MW in capacity, in a move to fast-track the development of large-scale installations throughout the country. The approved projects, which include 12 plants in Apulia and one in Basilicata, will not be subjected to further environmental impact assessments.
One of the projects will be situated in the municipality of Stornara, in the province of Foggia, while another agrivoltaic facility will span three different municipalities in the province of Brindisi, with a capacity of 43 MW. A 53 MW plant is also planned for the municipality of Cerignola, while the government has approved a 48 MW plant in Stornara and an “agri-naturalistic-voltaic plant” in Cerignola.
The remaining agrivoltaic plant will be located in Tolve, in the province of Potenza. The authorization comes as part of the Italian government's decision to bypass regional authorities and streamline the permitting process for renewable energy projects, which began in March 2022. Since then, the solar and renewable energy market in Italy has witnessed significant growth, with the government approving eight renewable energy projects in October 2022, with a combined capacity of 314 MW.
With this latest move, Italy is continuing its efforts to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and increase its reliance on renewable energy sources, in line with the country's commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The agrivoltaic projects are an innovative approach to generating clean energy while using land for agriculture, reducing the competition for land use between energy and food production.
