Enel Green Power has obtained a non-repayable EU subsidized loan, as part of the first tender of the European Innovation Fund for large-scale projects. The financing agreement with the EU Commission was announced by Enel Green Power explaining that he will contribute to the development of Tango. It is an industrial-sized plant for the production of innovative, sustainable and high-performance photovoltaic modules in the EGP 3Sun solar panel factory in Catania.
EGP, the Tango project increases production capacity 15 times
The expansion of the factory will result in a 15-fold increase in its production capacity to 3.000 MegaWatts (3 GW) per year from the current 200. The 3 GW factory is expected to be fully operational by July 2024, after the will launch with the first 400 MW of capacity in September 2023, making 3Sun Europe's largest facility for the production of high-performance bifacial PV modules on a gigawatt scale.
The total investment for the construction of the 3 GW factory amounts to about 600 million euro. In addition to the commitment of Egp will be added EU funding for almost 118 million euros. Enel Green Power plans to increase direct and indirect local employment, creating approximately 1.000 jobs by 2024, as well as act as a catalyst for the revitalization of a photovoltaic value chain in Europe.
Starace: this is how we reduce our dependence on Asia
“The worldwide demand for solar PV modules is growing at an accelerating rate. It is expected – he said Francesco Starace, CEO of the Enel Group – that Europe alone will absorb a large part of the additional demand thanks to the great competitiveness and convenience of this technology. The origin of the supplies of these important components represents a weak point in the global supply chain and we see the need to rebalance its geographical distribution which today is overly dependent on a single source in Asia. This investment will bring 3.000 MW of production capacity per year back to Europe and will mark a big step forward for Italy in maintaining its technological leadership”.
Savior Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power he added: “The Tango project will help achieve the EU's increased ambition of 40% renewable energy consumption by 2030, as well as help reduce energy dependency”.
