Enel X has been awarded a tender by Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) to build a 22MW solar plant that will meet the airport’s self-consumption requirements.
The company, part of Enel Group, will deliver the solar plant in collaboration with infrastructure company Circet.
Located parallel to runway No.3 at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport, the facility will cover a 340,000 square metre area.
Work is scheduled to start by the end of 2023 and will be completed in 2024.
The new solar energy plant will be complemented with a storage system based on second life electric vehicle batteries.
The 10MWh storage system is the result of the Pioneer (airPort sustaInability secONd lifE battEry stoRage) project, which is the first stage of the collaboration between Enel X and ADR, and will help cover any possible energy demand peak at the airport in the evenings.
“The construction of this new photovoltaic system, which will be the largest in Europe, is a significant step in the now well-established collaboration with Aeroporti di Roma,” said Enel X chief executive Francesco Venturini.
ADR chief executive Marco Troncone added: “Working with Enel X will make it possible for the largest self-consumption photovoltaic system ever installed at a European airport.
“We believe that Italy’s top companies can and must work together in order to transform and relaunch this sector, which is of strategic importance for our country, and to help mitigate climate change.”
ADR is targeting zero CO2 emissions by 2030, ahead of the targets set for the European airport sector.