Two new PPP agreements: from solar in Sicily to the SME project

A2A's Industrial Plan to 2035, supported by a 23 billion euro investment package, identifies the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) as one of the tools to guide the country's energy transition. The Group's CEO, Renato Mazzoncini, has repeatedly described A2A as a true 'enabler of the transition', emphasising that PPAs themselves are not simply commercial contracts, but the operational engine for ensuring the emergence of new renewable capacity. According to Mazzoncini, these instruments offer crucial protection against price volatility, making it possible to capture the efficiency of green technologies and transfer it directly to businesses and citizens with certain and competitive costs in the long term. For A2A, PPAs are therefore now a consolidated tool, which in recent weeks has seen two more pieces added to the mosaic: the Ramacca plant and the partnership with Sosteneo and the project with Keynesia Energy to support SMEs.

The partnership with Sosteneo SGR (part of the Generali Investments platform), signed at the beginning of February, focuses on an industrial-scale project in Sicily. The agreement involves the construction of a 68 MW photovoltaic plant in the municipality of Ramacca (Catania), an area chosen for the island's high solar radiation. Through a 12-year PPA, A2A is committed to collecting the plant's entire production, estimated at around 130 GWh per year. This volume of energy is able to meet the electricity needs of about 48,000 households, avoiding the emission of almost 60,000 tonnes of each year. The commissioning, scheduled for the second half of 2027, provides Sosteneo with the financial certainty needed to make the project 'bankable', confirming Mazzoncini's vision of the need to 'run together with the transition' through secure and immediate investments.

Parallel to the large scale, A2A announced on 27 February 2026 an innovative business model in collaboration with Keynesia Energy. This project focuses on distributed generation and Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) made up of small and medium-sized companies. The aim is to develop over 100 MW of installed capacity by 2027 through the construction of around a hundred small photovoltaic plants (maximum 1 MW each) throughout the country. In this scenario, A2A collects the energy and makes it available to CERs, allowing companies to benefit from incentive mechanisms. Through ten-year PPA contracts, SMEs can benefit from 100% green energy at stable prices, protecting their operating margins from the fluctuations of the free market.

The leadership of A2A, which Mazzoncini describes as consolidated as 'the second operator in renewables in Italia', is the result of a path that includes numerous other significant agreements. These include the partnership with the SIAD Group for the supply of around 88 GWh of green energy per year for nine years. Equally important is the 20-year partnership with Hitachi Rail, based on a Virtual PPA model integrated into the production sites. Not to be forgotten are the agreements with Erg, for the management of huge volumes of wind energy (2.7 TWh from January 2027 for 15 years), and with ContourGlobal for the withdrawal of solar energy. This diversification demonstrates the group's versatility in creating tailor-made solutions for all types of partners, from infrastructure funds to mechanical engineering giants.

Ultimately, A2A's PPA strategy outlines a future in which environmental sustainability converges with economic sustainability. By integrating large assets such as Ramacca with widespread solutions for small businesses, the Group is firmly aiming for 3.7 GW of installed capacity from renewable sources. These agreements transform the vision of the Industrial Plan into physical infrastructure, radically changing the way energy is produced and shared. Thanks to this approach, A2A confirms itself as a protagonist on the path towards the Net Zero to 2050 objective, guaranteeing economic stability and competitiveness to local communities and the production world in Italia.