New storage interconnection rules yield Italy’s first solar-smoothing plant

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Enel Green Power wants to take its experiences of integrating renewables and providing grid services with batteries in its home market of Italy into the international arena in future. Image: Enel Green Power.
Plans by Italy’s grid operator to allow for the interconnection of energy storage to the network have resulted in the country’s first grid-connected solar-smoothing storage facility being inaugurated.  

Grid operator Terna has put in place the rules for interconnection which led many energy storage industry observers to keep a close eye on developments in the southern European country’s electricity sector.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Renewable energy developer Enel Green Power yesterday unveiled the 1MW/2MWh storage system yesterday in Catania, Sicily. It connects to an Enel Green Power 10MWp PV plant, with Enel describing the storage element as an “integral part” of the Catania 1 solar project.

The grid-connected storage will smooth out power quality from the PV system and allow its variable generation to be fed into the grid optimally. It will allow for more flexible management of the plant’s output but also, its value to the electricity network will in theory be maximised by it being used to provide grid services.

The facility has been undergoing testing since May, utilising General Electric’s Durathon batteries, which are molten salt-based (sodium-metal halide). GE and Enel Green Power – a subsidiary of Italian power generation firm Enel – have signed a partnership to investigate the grid integration of renewable energy plants. Part of the scope of the Catania project’s application will be to smooth out the difference between forecasted and actual output of renewable energy generators.

Enel Green Power is also currently constructing a storage project using 2MW/2MWh of Samsumg SDI batteries to be connected with an 18MW wind farm and connected to the high voltage grid. The company said it is keen to take its learnings from storage in Italy to other markets, namechecking Romania, Spain, Chile, Mexico, Peru, North America, South Africa and Kenya all as potential countries of interest.

Read Next

Premium
May 20, 2025
ESN Premium speaks with Chloe Hicks of EnergyCo about New South Wales’ Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) and its hopes for energy storage.
May 19, 2025
Elements Green has received grid connection approval from Powerlink Queensland and the AEMO for a 1.3GWh solar-plus-BESS site in Queensland.
May 16, 2025
Developer Elgin Energy has secured grid connection approval from AEMO for a 150MW solar-plus-storage site in Victoria.
May 14, 2025
The Mobility House will provide its aggregation and trading software to Electrohold, the energy trading arm of IPP and T&D network owner Eurohold Bulgaria, to optimise a 2.5GWh portfolio of BESS projects.
May 9, 2025
Georgia Power has begun construction on 765MW of new battery energy storage systems (BESS) across Georgia, US.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter