In an interview with PV Magazine Italia Giuseppe Rebuzzini, CEO of MET Energia Italia explained that over the next few years the company’s primary focus will be the development of small-scale renewable energy plants serving Renewable Energy Communities, for which it has allocated a budget of €5 million. In addition to the standard offer, more specific proposals are also available for SMEs.
Original article in Italian: PV Magazine
The Swiss MET Group is getting a lot of attention in Italy thanks to an expansion plan that Giuseppe Rebuzzini, CEO of MET Energia Italia, spoke about with PV Magazine Italia.
“On the generation front in the renewables sector, projects are being planned that will allow MET Group to reach an installed capacity of 2 GW in Europe by 2026, with significant growth in photovoltaics in Central and Southern Italy, where a substantial part of the projects in the portfolio are awaiting to obtain the necessary authorisation by the end of the year.”
Giuseppe Rebuzzini explained that the newly established MET Italia Energy Solutions is a company that aims to offer innovative and tailor-made solutions to improve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact in various industrial and commercial sectors, operating in synergy with its core activities related to the supply of energy commodities to end customers and optimisation of the procurement portfolio.
“As part of the activities carried out by the new energy service company, the plan provides for the construction of renewable generation plants with capacity between 100 kW and 1 MW, designed for Renewable Energy Communities. A budget of €5 million has been allocated for these activities for 2024 and 2025, with the idea of making the project scalable and multiplying the number of communities and investments in the future.”
In terms of target audiences, if 2023 was the year in which MET entered the photovoltaic panel business, this year the Group’s strategy is focused on diversification. “Alongside the standard offer, with list prices and 5-6 kW modules, more specific proposals have been created, tailored to small and medium-sized businesses. These proposals offer a major customisation component that includes the design of ad hoc solutions for industrial customers such as, for example, installations and services for the creation of energy communities.”
The CEO of MET Energia Italia also explained that over the next few years the primary focus of the new company will be the development of small-scale renewable plants – predominantly photovoltaic – serving Renewable Energy Communities. On this front, once the initial €5 million budget has been exhausted, the objective will be to further expand this business line, multiplying the number of installed plants and related investments up to 10 times.
“All this, without forgetting that we also have extremely ambitious goals in terms of the installation and sale of photovoltaic plants and e-mobility hardware, with a target of installed capacity with third parties at least similar to that in which we will be investing directly.”
Finally, answering our question on the importance of the Italian market, Giuseppe Rebuzzini says: “Italy is a key market for the Group, both for utility-scale renewable energy production plants, in which the MET Green Assets Division and the MET Keppel renewables joint venture operate, as well as in terms of small-scale photovoltaic plants associated (or associable) with medium-sized industrial plants and the entire world of services and residential offers, falling under the MET Energia Italia and MET Italia Energy Solutions umbrella. In the first area, MET has a pipeline of over 500 MW of agrivoltaic plants in the process of being authorised. In addition, the company has very recently announced the purchase of 2 ready-to-build projects in Northern Italy, which will allow it to have the first ‘Italian’ production ready as early as 2025. In the small-scale sector, the goals to be achieved are those referred to earlier, with a continuous focus on time to market, on the generation of multiple opportunities and on collaboration with local partners for the construction of the plants and for sharing of the energy produced.”