• Company opens its largest plant in the Southern European country with 57 MW
• RWE’s total national capacity increases to around 440 MW
• Italian market attractive for development of renewables projects

RWE continues to expand its renewables business in Europe: the company has put the Morcone onshore wind farm near Naples (Italy) into full operation. The plant has 19 turbines whose rotor blades reach a height of 140 metres. With a total capacity of 57 MW, the wind farm can supply up to 65,000 households per year with energy. The construction of the new facility in the mountainous terrain around Morcone started in 2018 and the plant has been partially operating since June 2019.

“The Morcone site represents another step to strengthen our position as a leading producer of renewable energy. It is our largest onshore wind farm in terms of capacity in Italy”, emphasises Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, CEO of RWE Renewables, highlighting the importance of the market for RWE. “Italy is one of our core markets for wind energy. The country is seeing continued expansion of renewables and we are happy to contribute to this development.“ RWE Renewables will have 15 onshore wind farms with a total capacity of around 440MW in Italy with further projects under development. Currently, the company is constructing a second onshore wind farm at its existing site in Alcamo in the region of Sicily.

The Italian market is characterised by ambitious renewable energy targets that are defined in the Italian National Energy and Climate Plan. These targets are supported by a robust incentive scheme based on two-sided CfDs (Contracts for Difference) auctions until 2021. These agreements provide clear and predictable revenues for the project developers. In the future, the projected start of a long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) market is also expected to have a positive effect.

RWE is one of the largest players in the renewable business worldwide and the third largest producer of renewable energy in Europe. In order to strengthen this position, the company will provide an annual €1.5 billion in net capital expenditure for renewables. Project partnerships have the potential to increase total investment to between €2 and €3 billion per annum.