Europe Solar PV News Snippets

European Energy's 90 MW solar farm cleared in Italy; Merck signs VPPAs with Matrix Renewables & Renantis in Spain; MYTILINEOS to build 490 MW PV for METON in Greece; HELLENiQ ENERGY makes 2nd RE acquisition in Cyprus. 

90 MW cleared in Italy: European Energy of Denmark says it has secured the authorization from Italy's Puglia region for its 90 MW solar farm in the country. The project in the Municipality of Cerano will be implemented by the company's subsidiary Cerano Energreen. It is coming up on land unsuitable for agriculture, located close to an industrial area. It is expected to generate clean energy for 55,500 households on completion. European Energy said it will deploy state-of-the-art PV technologies including tracker panels for the project to optimize energy production through the day. 

Merck goes for RE: Science and technology company Merck has signed virtual power purchase agreements (VPPA) for 300 GWh annually to cover 100% of its current electricity purchases in the European Union (EU) and Switzerland with renewable energy certificates from 2025 onwards. The VPPAs for wind and solar power have been signed with Matrix Renewables and Renantis with a 10-year duration each. Merck said 200 GWh will come from solar PV and 100 GWh from wind farms from 5 Spanish sites from 2025 onwards. 

Greek EPC company bags 8-project contract: Greece's MYTILINEOS will construct 8 solar PV projects with a total installed capacity of 490 MW in the Western Macedonia region of Greece. It bagged the contract from METON Energy, a joint venture between RWE Renewables Europe and Australia, and PPC Renewables. All the projects in the portfolio are expected to come online by 2024-end. The standalone projects, with individual capacity ranging between 18 MW and 135 MW, will be stationed in parts of the wider area of the former Amynteo lignite mine. 

Greek company invests in Cyprus: HELLENiQ ENERGY of Greece has acquired 26 MW solar PV capacity in Cyprus, expanding its total portfolio in the country to more than 40 MW. It has completed the acquisition of the 6 projects that represent this capacity, through its subsidiary HELLENiQ Renewables. All these will gradually come online over the next 5 months. According to the company, this is its 5th investment in renewable energy sources internationally and 2nd in Cyprus. It entered the Cyprus market in May 2023 with the acquisition of 2 operational solar PV parks with a total of 15 MW capacity. It was the company's maiden renewable energy investment outside of Greece.