Agrivoltaics, where panels can be installed and where not

After a tug-of-war within the government between the head of agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida and the head of the environment Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, ministerial technicians eventually found a solution that got the go-ahead from both sides: stop the installation of panels on the ground on productive land; green light instead for the development of renewables in areas such as quarries or ceased mines, but also on land in the availability of the FS group or airport managers, as well as those inside industrial plants or production facilities, including those areas within a perimeter of 500 metres from the aforementioned environments or plants. Green light, then, for new green plants also in areas adjacent to the motorway network, within 300 metres, and in sites on which plants already exist for refurbishment, modification or overhaul without further occupation of land. These solutions were envisaged by the decree on emergencies for agriculture approved on Monday 6 May by the Council of Ministers.

With the reformulation of the text, which technicians have been working on, the procedures that have already been authorised are safeguarded, but "we will need a procedure to assess what to include and what not to include," Pichetto Fratin clarified at the end of the Cdm, after assuring that the decree also safeguards the investments envisaged in the NRP, in particular those related to renewable energy communities (RES). The stop, the draft decree law reads, 'does not apply in the event that plants with ground-based modules are the subject of self-consumption and Cer configurations'. Nothing detracts, the Forza Italia exponent then assured, "from the fact that the Pniec to 2030 remains the same with a renewable target on the solar front of around 38 gigawatts". Which, in Mase's plans, should come from photovoltaics in agricultural areas, with 0.35 per cent of the total agricultural area.

The initial draft of the measure actually envisaged a ban on all forms of panels on cultivated land, a stop that Coldiretti had long called for. The Minister of the Environment at the end of last week had intervened with his colleague to find a mediation and save agri-voltaics, a sector with 60 billion euro development prospects.

On agricultural photovoltaics 'it is a question of finding a balance between territorial needs, sectoral needs and the protection of cultivated areas'. This was said by the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, on the sidelines of the meeting 'The efficient transition: new solutions for the energy of the future' organised by Engie and edited by Il Sole 24 Ore. On Article 5, 'the offices are writing what was the political agreement, I think it is fine,' the minister continued, indicating that 'with the decree on eligible areas - which is currently at a standstill in the Conference of the Regions - we will see to make the appropriate corrections. It is a joint proposal, the offices will see to adjust what is the proposal of suitable areas to the latest decree". On the subject of publication in the Official Gazette, Pichetto replied: 'I think shortly.