Neoen and Equinix have signed their first power purchase agreement (PPA) in Italy, concerning 53MW of solar output.
The 10-year deal includes seven newbuild projects in northern Italy, close to Equinix’s data centres in Milan and Genoa.
The PPA will support Equinix’s ability to maintain 100% renewable coverage for its International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres in Italy, while increasing its backing of renewable power projects.
The solar arrays will contribute to Italy’s Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate Change targets by 2030.
The PPA is structured under a portfolio approach. It is the first such deal signed between Neoen and Equinix in Italy and the fifth one in Europe over the past three years.
These five agreements represent a total contracted capacity of 210MW across Finland, Sweden and now Italy.
This deal brings Neoen’s total contracted capacity under corporate PPAs worldwide to over 2.8GW and Equinix’s global capacity under long term renewable energy contracts to around 1.2GW.
Equinix said it is increasingly focused on expanding the breadth and quality of its renewables portfolio and is proud to have executed 24 PPAs in total to date across Australia, Singapore, India, France, Iberia, Italy, the Nordics and the US.
Neoen Italy’s director and head of business development Andrea Massimo Bartolini said: “We are very pleased to sign our first PPA in Italy, less than 36 months after our establishment in the country and less than 10 months after launching the construction of our first assets in the country.
“This agreement demonstrates Neoen’s ability to provide reliable, long-term and competitive renewable energy to our local clients.
“We are very proud to play our part in building a more competitive and sovereign Italy.”
Director of IBX operations, Italy, at Equinix Marco Matarazzo added: “Equinix is proud to continue its global programme of sustainability initiatives with the signing of our first PPA in Italy.
“The backing of the development of seven new solar projects in the country actively contributes to Italy’s decarbonisation targets and aligns with our goal of achieving 100% renewable energy coverage by 2030 as well as our commitments to driving positive change and advancing sustainability in the data centre industry as a whole.”