Italy has awarded more than 1.1 GW of capacity to 88 projects in its first auction exclusively for solar installations built without Chinese-manufactured equipment, setting an average price of €66/MWh (Italian energy agency GSE press release, 10/12/2025)
This procurement exercise represents Italy's first solar auction implementing the resilience criteria stipulated by the EU Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA). For PV projects larger than 1 MW, the Italian government prohibited the use of solar modules, cells, and inverters from China.
- According to data from GSE, the tariff is 17% higher than the average price achieved in a previous renewable energy auction earlier in 2025, which had no restrictions on equipment origin.
- Only two plants exceed 100 MW of nominal capacity. The largest project is a 180 MW plant proposed by Alta Capital 3, to be built in the municipality of Butera, Sicily. The second-largest project is a 108 MW plant developed by Solaer Clean Energy Italy, a subsidiary of the Spanish company Zelestra.
The announcement follows the GSE awards of 7.7 GW of solar and approximately 950 MW of wind projects in early December 2025 (KEI, 03/12/2025). Under the auction framework, developers are required to bring plants online within 36 months.
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