(Finance) – The European Commission hState aid for 1.7 billion euros provided for by an Italian support scheme for agrovoltaic systems, included in the Pnrr and partially financed by the Rrf Fund (the European device for recovery and resilience after the Covid crisis).
The measure is part of the Italian strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the share of renewable energy in the energy mix, in line with the EU’s strategic objectives related to the Green Deal. The support scheme, which will last until 31 December 2024, concerns the construction and management in Italy of new agrovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 1.04 GW and an electricity production of at least 1,300 GWh/year. Agrovoltaic systems allow the simultaneous use of land both for the production of photovoltaic energy, through the installation of solar panels, and for carrying out agricultural activities.
Under the scheme, aid will be granted to agricultural producers, cumulatively, in the form of: 1) investment grants, with a total budget of €1.1 billion, covering up to 40% of eligible investment costs ; 2) incentive electricity tariffs, with an estimated budget of 560 million euros, to be paid during the operational phase of the projects, for a period of 20 years. The incentive tariffs will be determined through a competitive bidding procedure according to the “pay-as-bid” principle and will take the form of two-way “contracts for difference”. The support will cover the difference between the feed-in tariffs and the energy market prices. In the event of high energy prices on the market, a recovery mechanism intervenes which allows the reimbursement of the price difference compared to the incentive tariffs.
The agrivoltaic projects to be subsidized will be selected through competitive, transparent and non-discriminatory tender procedures, in which the beneficiaries will be chosen based on the lowest incentive tariff offered for the realization of each individual project. To access the support scheme, beneficiaries must become operational before 30 June 2026.