Wind Energy

Serre Persano Photovoltaic Solar Power Plant Back in Operation

The 6.6 MW Serre Persano (Salerno) power plant has been connected to the Italian power grid. The plant, built in 1993, was the Enel Group’s first photovoltaic power plant, originally offering 3.3 MW of installed capacity. It was for many years the largest solar power plant in Europe.

The now completely renovated Serre Persano plant is expected to generate, once fully up and running, around 9 million kWh per year – equal to the annual consumption of 3,000 households – thereby saving 2,000 tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) and avoiding the emission of 4,500 metric tons of CO2 per year.

“Enel Green Power is continuing to expand in the solar sector,” said Francesco Starace, CEO of the Company,“drawing upon our Group’s long-time commitment as we were first to believe in the development opportunities offered by this source. The challenge now is to continue to introduce innovation and technological capabilities, EGP currently being the leader in integrating photovoltaic systems and in the other technologies that make up our generation mix. A mix which is unique in the world of renewables thanks to the use of all its technologies as well as the presence in several countries”.

Enel Green Power ended 2010 and began this year with the launch of new plants and building projects. Specifically, the following were connected to the network: the 5 MW Serragiumenta (Cosenza) plant, the first one to be built by ESSE in a joint venture with Sharp; the 3 MW Deruta (Perugia) plant; the Taranto system, with an installed capacity exceeding 3 MW, located on the rooftops of the factories belonging to the Marcegaglia group; the 2.5 MW Strambino (Turin) plant; the Adrano (Catania) photovoltaic field which, with an installed capacity of 9 MW, is located on the site where Enel built the world’s first concentrated solar plant in 1981; the 4.8 MW San Gillio (Turin) plant; and the 500 kW Sesto Campano (Isernia) which is located in the Cesima upper basin of the Presenzano hydroelectric plant.

In addition, Enel Green Power is completing the installation of solar power systems on the rooftops of CIS – Interporto Campano in Nola (Naples). With a 25 MW installed capacity, it will be the largest rooftop photovoltaic system in Europe using thin-film technology. EGP has also received the green light to build the first hybrid system in the USA, and perhaps the first in the world, that combines the continual generation capacity of a binary-cycle, medium-enthalpy geothermal power plant with the peak capacity of solar energy, adding 24 MW of installed photovoltaic capacity to the existing geothermal power plant in Stillwater (Nevada).

www.enel.com