Italy launches its first photovoltaic + energy storage community

    An energy community in northern Italy will integrate photovoltaic installations with energy storage systems to power 48 households in a social housing project and a rented Home Solar Power Kit electric fleet. This is a collective effort and can be promoted as early as 2023.

    A 48-unit apartment building in the province of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy will help evaluate an energy community business model specifically for social housing. The testing phase should end in December 2022 and will show whether and how the model being implemented in Scandiano will be replicated.

    Project leader Sauro Saraceni: “The project is expected to install a 60-kilowatt photovoltaic system on the roof. Together with the 115.2-kilowatt-hour energy storage system, the installation will be completed by the end of 2021. An electric fleet will be introduced next year, and from 2020 The consumption monitoring started in September of 2008 will continue until the end of 2022. This is to understand the complex situation that eventually arises in the local area."

    Saraceni works at ART-ER, an Emilia-Romagna consortium that aims to promote and coordinate the sustainable development of the region. He said Scandiano will become a model of photovoltaic installations and mobile solutions, not only in the region, but also in the entire country. Saraceni emphasized: “Among other housing options, social housing is the one most affected by energy poverty. The region’s goal is to extend this model to other social housing projects in the next few years.”

    According to preliminary estimates, photovoltaic and energy storage systems will reduce electricity consumption by 60%.