“The effort made by EF Solare and the project partners has taken us today to the presentation of this innovative model that can really help us to accelerate the sustainable development of the country. We need to carefully study the possible solutions, adapting the model to the needs of the territory and creating a strong synergy with local communities, as we have been doing for years in Calabria thanks to the collaboration and the conviction of the people who work with us for an increasingly green future,” concluded Andrea Ghiselli, CEO of EF Solare.
EF SOLARE’S ANNUAL CONFERENCE, “TRANSITION2GREEN: THE CONTRIBUTION OF AGRI-PHOTOVOLTAICS”
“Transition2Green: the contribution of agri-photovoltaics” was the title of the annual conference organized by EF Solare that, after a year of stop due to the health emergency, was organized in Scalea where, now more than 10 years ago, the Group has created the first agri-photovoltaic projects and where now has realized, in preview, the prototype of a new model of agri-photovoltaics with zero land consumption, in collaboration with the agricultural partner Le Greenhouse and Convert Italia, a company specializing in providing solar tracking systems.
Thanks to the work and cooperation of all the people involved, it was possible to think and then implement an innovative agri-photovoltaic model able to meet the needs of open field crops while maintaining the main benefits of agri-photovoltaics found under the greenhouses, such as cooler micro-climate, water saving and an advanced crop monitoring system.
The conference, thanks to the many interventions, gave the opportunity to compare points of view and collect ideas and suggestions for the future. For this reason we wanted to share the main considerations that emerged.
At the beginning of the event, it was possible to review the current status of the renewable energy sector in Italy thanks to the contribution of Corrado Santini, Senior Partner of F2i Sgr, who also highlighted EF Solare’s commitment to promoting the growth of the photovoltaic sector. Together with him, the Mayor of Scalea, Giacomo Perrotta, and the Mayor of Milis, Sergio Vacca, joined in the greetings, sharing their support for agri-photovoltaic systems and the collaboration between EF Solare and their communities in developing not only green energy, but also investment and local employment.
After the opening greetings, the focus of the conference turned to the most current energy and agricultural issues through reports and statements from the main representatives of institutions and organizations in the sector.
Renewables today are at the center of an important growth and, among all, the photovoltaic sector has an absolutely important role in the energy transition. Federico Mandolini, Head of the Unit for Admission of RES Plant Incentives of GSE, showed during the conference the data about the growth of solar power in Italy. Photovoltaics, after the boom of the years 2010-2013, has recorded an average of about 500 MW of installed capacity per year. However, this rhythm is not enough to achieve the goals of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC). It will be necessary to push the development of technologically advanced and integrated solutions such as agri-photovoltaics that allow a synergy between different areas.
Alessandro Marangoni, CEO of Althesys, also highlighted the important role played by photovoltaics in the 2030 decarbonisation targets. However, he underlined that in order to reach these targets the issue of permitting is still crucial. According to Althesys CEO, in fact, authorization times are up to 78% longer than the time required by law. For this reason, it is necessary to make local authorities responsible. It is also important to support investments in infrastructures, the development of technologies and of the Italian supply chain.
Today, agri-photovoltaics is a solution that can strongly support not only the development of renewables, but also a sustainable and digital evolution of agriculture, adapting itself to the needs and characteristics of the territory. Alessandra Scognamiglio, ENEA Task Force Coordinator for Sustainable Agro-Photovoltaics, underlined in fact that it is necessary to overcome, through knowledge, the ideological barriers towards agri-photovoltaics, which is not an immutable model but rather a system able to adopt a tailor-made approach responding to the needs of agriculture, energy and also of the landscape. Enea decided to create a national network for sustainable agri-voltaic (present only in Italy) involving many institutions, entrepreneurs and organization in order to develop a concrete knowledge, showing convincing solutions to support a cultural transition necessary to respond to the urgent energy transition.
From the agricultural point of view, currently, as explained by Andrea Colantoni, Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences of the University of Tuscia, agriculture has to face new challenges regarding climate change and for this reason it must be able to embrace and support technological innovation in the sector through efficient solutions such as agri-photovoltaic projects, able to listen to the cultivation needs of communities and optimize and enhance the simultaneous use of land.
The new model realized by EF Solare represents an innovative solution equipped with special technologies to support energy and agricultural production. Thanks to the idea realized and the innovative solutions proposed through the prototype, Romano Ambrogi, Coordinator of the Scientific Council of RSE, has expressed the desire to collaborate with EF Solare to study together the performance and benefits of this system.
The conference also included the remote participation of Senator Gianni Girotto, President of the Industry Commission of the Senate, Senator Paolo Arrigoni, Member of the Territory and Environment Commission of the Senate, and the Honorable Luca Sut, Member of the Productive Activities Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, who, analyzing the different points of view and the current scenario of the sector, wanted to affirm their support for a model of sustainable agro-photovoltaic able to meet the needs of the territory and support, in a sinergical way, a concrete energy transition.
“The effort made by EF Solare and the project partners has taken us today to the presentation of this innovative model that can really help us to accelerate the sustainable development of the country. We need to carefully study the possible solutions, adapting the model to the needs of the territory and creating a strong synergy with local communities, as we have been doing for years in Calabria thanks to the collaboration and the conviction of the people who work with us for an increasingly green future,” concluded Andrea Ghiselli, CEO of EF Solare, at the end of the conference, which then gave the opportunity to visit the photovoltaic greenhouses and the prototype of the new model of agri-photovoltaic of EF Solare.
Watch below the video presentation of the prototype and review the speeches of the conference.