The facility means an investment of EUR 20 million

• The work was finished two months ahead of schedule

FRV (Fotowatio Renewable Ventures), the leading Spanish multinational in the solar-power sector, and Italgen, a company in the Italcementi Group dedicated to electricity generation and distribution in international markets, have finished work on the connection to the Hera Grid for the more than 6 MW solar plant in the city of Guiglia (Modena), two months ahead of the originally forseen schedule. The installation has meant a total investment of EUR 20 million.

The photovoltaic plant, built by Scatec Solar and operated by FRV and Italcementi, covers an area of more than 20 hectares and is located in an old quarry belonging to the Italcementi Group. The project turned this abandoned area into a facility for the production of electricity from renewable sources, coherently integrated with the local terrain and using the existing infrastructure. The location already has an infrastructure network for the provision of materials and the distribution of electrcity.

The facility, which will generate enough energy to meet the annual demand of around 2,000 households, preventing emissions of close to 5,000 t of CO2 a year, has been financed through project leasing given by Leasint S.p.A (Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo), a company that recently celebrated the funding for the first Gigawatt of clean energy, with more than 690 projects for energy production from renewable sources in all Italy.

‘We are quite pleased to have reached this important milestone thanks to our partners: The Province of Modena and the municipality of Guiglia, Italcementi and Italgen, Scatec Solar, Leasint and Hera’ said Andrea Fontana, General Manager for FRV in Italy. ‘It’s been quite a bumpy road, due to the huge regulatory uncertainty which has characterized the solar power sector during the period of construction, therefore, the satisfaction is even greater. We have invested EUR 20 million in the plant construction based on the incentives tariff from the Energy Act for the third quarter of 2011, but we will receive a lesser incentive expected in June for the fourth quarter.’

‘Guiglia is the first realization of a photovoltaic plant within the scope of Italgen’s activity, therefore we express our full satisfaction on having successfully completed and ahead of schedule this important project, which will bring economic and environmental benefits for the local community’, stated Giuseppe De Beni, the General Manager of Italgen. ‘The result has been possible thanks to all the team’s effort, which had valuable contribution and support from local institutions and all the partners involved. It was a positive experience for Italgen, and if the institutional, legislative, and market conditions allow, we hope to start up similar projects in other Italian cities’, said De Beni.

The mayor of Guiglia, Monica Amici, has been pleased with the start up of solar energy generation. She added, “The plant, being large and with a significant generation capacity, has practically no visual impact for the residents of Guiglia and its surroundings and will complement the restoration project of the old Italcementi quarry, which the municipality and the owners have been working on since the beginning of the year 2000. I want to thank Italcementi and their partners, not to mention the invaluable help of Hera SpA, the Province of Modena and the Customs Agency.’ She concluded, ‘Together they gave life to our idea and created a working reality and one we should be quite proud of.’

About Italgen (Italcementi Group)

Italgen, an Italcementi Group company, generates and distributes electricity on international markets. In 2009 they produced 390GWh of electricity; 308GWh generated from renewable energy sources and operated 14 hydroelectric plants in Italy, which amounts to an annual 15,000 t reduction in CO2 emissions, and two wind power farms in Bulgaria. They have plans to build three wind farms in Morocco, Turkey and Egypt. Italgen has ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and RECS certifications.