ROME (Reuters) – Italy will invest in Enel’s solar panel factory in Sicily to support its plans to expand production and become Europe’s main hub for solar panels, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday. Stated.
“The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) has provided funding for this project of 90 million euros ($97 million)…This will strengthen the current factory and allow us to establish further new production lines. ” Meloni concluded. A visit to his 3Sun factory in Catania.
“Our bet is that Catania will become one of the most important locations for solar panel production,” she added.
The plant’s existing annual production capacity of around 200 megawatts (MW) is scheduled to expand to 3 gigawatts (GW) by the end of this year, six months later than Enel’s originally announced 2022. .
Meloni said the goal is to create 700 new jobs by the end of 2024 in companies working with 3Sun factories, and indirectly create another 1,000 jobs.
The project to increase the plant’s production capacity comes as the European Union seeks to accelerate the switch to renewable energy and end dependence on gas imports from Russia.
Meloni, who took office in October 2022, has promised to promote renewable energy in the south to tackle decades of underdevelopment.
“We want and need to be competitive in this field compared to Asian players,” Meloni said on Saturday.
In January, Enel secured a €560 million financing package from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and an Italian banking group led by UniCredit to expand the site.
Further funding for the factory will come from the European Union’s Innovation Fund for green technology projects.
The energy group is also in talks with potential investors about the possibility of selling up to 50% of the plant, the people said.
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(Reporting by Julia Segreti; Editing by Mark Potter)