© Reuters. SUBMIT PHOTO: Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni holds her end-of-year press conference in Rome, Italy, December 29, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
ROME (Reuters) – Italy will buy Enel (BIT:-RRB-‘s photovoltaic panel factory in Sicily, supporting its strategy to enhance production and end up being Europe’s primary website for photovoltaic panels, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated on Saturday.
“There are 90 million euros ($97 million) for this job from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)… which will permit the present factory to reinforce itself and for an additional brand-new assembly line to be developed,” Meloni stated at the end of her check out to the 3Sun plant, in the city of Catania.
“Our bet is for Catania to turn into one of the most crucial centers in photovoltaic panel production,” she included.
The factory’s existing production capability of around 200 megawatts (MW) a year is set to broaden to 3 gigawatts (GW) by the end of this year, with a 6 month hold-up compared to what was at first revealed by Enel in 2022.
Meloni stated the goal was to produce 700 brand-new tasks by the end of 2024, and an additional 1,000 indirectly, in business dealing with the 3Sun plant.
The job to enhance the factory’s capability comes as the European Union is looking for to accelerate the switch to renewables and end its reliance on gas imported from Russia.
Meloni, who took charge in October 2022, has actually vowed to enhance renewables in the south to attempt to deal with years of under-development.
“We desire and we require to be competitive in this sector compared to Asian gamers,” Meloni stated on Saturday.
In January Enel protected a 560 million euro monetary bundle from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a group of Italian banks, led by UniCredit, to broaden the website.
Additional funds for the plant will originate from the European Union’s development fund for green innovation tasks.
The energy group is likewise in talks with prospective financiers over potentially offering up to 50% in the factory, sources have actually stated.
($1 = 0.9273 euros)