Touting entering into one of the first long term private power purchase agreements (PPA) in the Italian market, Canadian Solar and Axpo Italia have sealed the deal for 12 MW solar power capacity in the country.
Under the deal signed, energy utility Axpo Italia will source renewable energy and their associated guarantees of origin from 2 new solar power plants of Canadian Solar located near Ragusa and Enna, both in Sicily. Once the projects come online in April 2022, Canadian Solar will start providing clean energy to the procurer for 10 years for a guaranteed fixed price.
This will ensure stable cash flows to the 2 projects that are currently under development. Construction is expected to begin by the end of 2021. On completion, Canadian Solar said its high-efficiency modules deployed for the 12 MW capacity will generate close to 22 GWh annually.
Canada headquartered Chinese PV manufacturer Canadian Solar said the collaboration with Axpo Italia is part of a broader framework agreement the 2 companies signed in November 2020 for the execution of up to 300 MW of similar PPAs in the country.
"Agreements such as long-term PPAs finally allow the market and all the actors involved to definitively exit the incentive logic, making the plants financially sustainable, programmable from the development point of view and advantageous for all the stakeholders involved," explained Simone Demarchi, CEO at Axpo Italia. "The hope is that this trend, which is already well established in Europe, will soon achieve stability in Italy as well."
In January 2019, the Italian subsidiary of Switzerland's Axpo signed a 12-year PPA with European Energy for 300 MW PV capacity in Italy (see PPA Signed For 300 MW Solar Capacity In Italy).
In a related development from Axpo group, Axpo Iberia has secured a 10-year corporate solar PPA with plastic packaging company Berry Global in Spain for 50 MW capacity out of Solaria's 626 MW Trillo project that's due to come online by the end of 2021 (see Solaria To Build 626 MW PV Plant In Spain).