New wind farm construction starts in Italy

Feb. 19 (UPI) -- In what would be its eleventh such project to date in the country, German utility company E.ON said construction started on a new wind farm in Italy.

The company started construction for the 19 wind turbines planned for the Morcone project in Naples, the largest project awarded during an Italian government auction in 2016.

The German company said the construction phase starts with foundations in what's considered mountainous terrain. Turbines would be placed by this summer and, with a peak capacity of 57 megawatts, the Morcone project could start sending energy to the grid by early next year.

E.ON owns and operates 10 onshore wind farms already in Italy, for a combined total capacity of around 330 MW.

According to a country profile from the International Energy Agency, Italy has witnessed "impressive growth" in the renewable energy sector since laying out a national energy strategy five years ago.

Eurostat, the statistics office for the European Union, found more than 17 percent of energy in Italy came from renewable energy resources in 2016, the last full year for which data are available. That means the country met its target for 2020 ahead of schedule. The share 10 years ago was closer to 11 percent.

With $11.6 million in funding from the European Commission, the German company and service provider CLEVER in November said they'd link the countries connecting Norway to Italy with a network of 180 charging stations for electric vehicles.

Each station will be equipped with as many as six charging points with enough electricity to charge a 250-mile range battery in about a half hour. Charging stations will be spaced every 90 miles or so across Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway during the next three years.