Finance Associated Press, February 4 (edited by Xia Junxiong).On Saturday (February 3), local time, Italian Prime Minister Meloni said that Italy will invest in the Italian national electricity company (ENEL)'s photovoltaic factory 3Sun to increase the output of photovoltaic panels and make the location of the factory a major photovoltaic panel production base in Europe.
Located in the city of Catania in Sicily, the plant has an existing capacity of about 200 megawatts per year, which will be expanded to 3 gigawatts by the end of this year. Compared to Enel's plans announced in 2022, the time to achieve the capacity expansion target has been delayed by six months.
"The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPRP) provides 90 million euros for this project, which will allow the current plant to strengthen itself and further build new production lines," Meloni said on Saturday after a visit to the 3Sun plant. ”
"We want Catania to become one of the most important centres for the production of photovoltaic panels," she added. ”
Meloni said the goal is to create 700 new jobs by the end of 2024 and indirectly create 1,000 jobs in companies that partner with the 3sun plant.
Meloni took office in October 2022 and has pledged to promote renewable energy in southern Italy, where it has been underdeveloped for decades. "We want and need to be competitive in this area compared to Asian businesses," she said on Saturday. ”
Europe is accelerating the development of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels as soon as possible. In February 2022, following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the European Union set a goal of weaning itself off Russian energy by 2027.
In January of this year, Enel received 5EUR 600 million in financing for the expansion of the 3sun plant. Further funding for the plant will come from the EU Green Technology Project Innovation Fund.
There are reports that Enel is in talks with potential investors about the possibility of a 50% stake in the 3Sun plant.
Finance Associated Press Xia Junxiong).