Italy has launched its first solar energy storage community

An energy community in northern Italy will integrate solar installations with energy storage systems to power 48 homes in a social housing project and a fleet of rented electric vehicles. It is a collective effort that could be scaled up as soon as 2023.

A building of 48 apartments in the northern Italian province of Reggio Emilia will help evaluate the business model of energy communities specifically for social housing.The test phase, which should end in December 2022, will show whether and how the model being implemented in the city of Scandiano can be replicated.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) PROJECT LEADER SAURO SARACENI SAYING: "The project is expected to install a 60-kilowatt photovoltaic system on the roof.The 115.2 kilowatt-hour energy storage system will be installed by the end of 2021. An electric fleet will be introduced next year, while consumption monitoring, which began in September 2020, will continue until the end of 2022.It's about understanding the complexities that will eventually emerge on the ground."

Saraceni, who works for ART-ER, an Emilia-Romagna consortium that aims to promote and coordinate sustainable development in the region, said Scandiano will become a model for photovoltaic installations and mobile solutions, not only in the region, but also in the whole country."Among other housing options, social housing is the one most affected by energy poverty," Saraceni stressed.The area aims to extend this model to other social housing projects in the coming years."

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