Enel inks solar tracker deal with Comal as part of plant reconversion plans (updated)

Comal SpA

17/02/2022 16:58

(Recasts, adds detail, quote)
    MILAN, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Enel  ENEI.MI  has reached a deal
with Italy's Comal  CMLA.MI  to install a solar tracker factory
at a giant power plant it is converting into a green energy hub
as part of plans to cut its carbon footprint.
    Europe's biggest utility said on Thursday that Comal would
build the factory to make tracker devices - which allow solar
panels to follow the sun throughout the day - at the Montalto di
Castro power plant in southern Italy.
    The move is part of Enel's plans to redevelop disused power
plants and create new renewable energy and storage facilities
alongside other business projects.
    Enel, which has pledged to phase out its coal-fired plants
by 2027, is looking to cut its global emissions by 80% from 2017
levels by 2030 and aims to have a wholly green power portfolio
by 2040.
    Comal's tracker factory will be built in a 30,000 square
metre (322,917 sq. ft) area at the site, which is gradually
being wound down.
    The aim is to produce tracker devices able to support solar
production of up to 1 gigawatt a year and help create an Italian
renewable energy supply chain. 
    Enel, which had 12.4 gigawatts of conventional capacity in
Italy as of the end of last September, has applied for permits
to build a 10 megawatt solar plant at the site which used to
have a gross capacity of around 3.6 GW.
    Oil-fired capacity at Montalto di Castro has already been
mothballed but gas-fired turbines still generate power when
needed by the grid.


 (Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Susan Fenton)
 ((stephen.jewkes@thomsonreuters.com; +39.0266129695; Reuters
Messaging: stephen.jewkes.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))