A self-consumption photovoltaic system spread across the province of Pavia is being started, the first step toward a CER that aims to expand

The activities dedicated to energy efficiency put in place by Whitenergy, an energy services company based in Verona and Cagliari, Italy, which supports industrial companies on a path to environmental sustainability by carrying out interventions to reduce consumption and transition to the increasingly important use of renewable energy, do not stop.

The group, which directly proposes and invests in efficiency projects and the construction of power plants from renewable sources, is focusing this time on RECs, Renewable Energy Communities. The project concerns the establishment of the first renewable energy community managed by Whitenergy, which will be established in the province of Pavia, in the municipality of Arena Po.

The project involves the construction of a photovoltaic plant on land adjacent to the A21, the Wine Highway, within a distance of no more than 300 meters in a suitable classified area.

In detail, 2350 modules are planned to be installed with a total capacity of about 1 MWp and an expected annual output of 1,280 MWh.

The energy produced by the plant will be shared with the partners and members of the ERC who will be eligible for incentives provided by the state to support electricity produced by renewable energy plants, in a diffuse self-consumption mode.

The project is in the home stretch: final authorization for the construction of the plant was obtained on November 27. The ERC is scheduled to be established in February 2025.

The development of the plant will be handled by We Build Energy srl, a company belonging to the Whitenergy Group, which is involved in the construction of turnkey photovoltaic systems, mainly for industrial clients.

“We are proud to be able to start a project that will also have positive spin-offs for the local community,” explains Giovanni Tellini, Whitenergy partner and administrator of We Build Energy. The electricity produced by the plant will be shared by community members, incorporated into the production process of small businesses or exchanged among participating households, with obvious economic and social benefits.”

“The purpose of an ERC,” Tellini concludes, “is not to generate high financial profits, but to achieve environmental, economic and social benefits for its members or partners or for the area in which it operates.

Whitenergy’s ERC aims to be the first step in the creation of a community that,in compliance with the principles set by the Draghi Decree, can operate at the national level, following the recent clarification arrived in this regard by the GSE.

“Interesting scenarios are opening up for a national ERC to fully exploit so-called diffuse self-consumption, contributing significantly to the achievement of the National 2030 targets on renewables and CO2 emission reductions set out in the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan 2030 (PNIEC), as well as the European Green Deal,” highlights Gianluigi Mele, CEO of Whitenergy.