By Anders Lorenzen

Britain’s Octopus Energy has joined the Italian solar and wind developer Nexta Capital Partners in an ambitious project that aims to produce 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of new onshore wind and solar farms in Italy by 2025.

Italy is under increasing pressure to reduce its reliance on Russian gas (25% of its imported gas). 

Octopus Energy announced that the investments in the Italian projects will be made through its recently launched 220 million euro arm Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP), managed by Octopus Energy Generation. 

Nexta, a renewables developer based in Milan, and OEDP will provide funding. Nexta will secure the land, grid connections, and planning permissions to achieve the project’s advances to the ready-to-build stage.

Powering 1.2 million homes

The venture has announced that the planned 1.1 GW could power 1.2 million homes – equivalent to avoiding 950,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.

Currently, Octopus Energy Generation manages 3 GW of renewables assets across Europe.

Commenting on the venture Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, said: “Building more new green energy will help reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels and drive down energy bills. Onshore wind and solar are some of the cheapest forms of energy – and Italy can generate it right on their soil. To avoid a repeat of the energy crisis, it’s essential we turbocharge the creation of new renewable energy and shift to a low carbon energy system.”

The joint venture has so far shared few specific details about the nature of the renewables projects.