The European Commission recently approved, under EU State aid rules, a €89.5 million (over USD$99 million) Italian measure made available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF') to support the expansion of 3Sun's solar panel plant in Catania, Sicily.
The aid will take the form of a €89.5 million direct grant to support 3Sun's investment for the expansion of its solar panels factory in Catania, Sicily. 3Sun is part of the Enel Group. The project will expand the annual capacity of 3Sun's existing plant from 200 MW to more than 3 GW. It will also introduce tandem perovskite PV technology, which will improve the panel efficiency and therefore increase the energy generated by each MW installed. The factory will be the largest solar panels manufacturing site in Europe, which will ultimately reduce the EU dependency on imports from foreign manufacturers.
"This €89.5 million measure enables Italy to support the expansion of 3Sun’s solar panel plant in Catania, contributing to the regional development and competitiveness of this area. Funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility, this aid measure will contribute to the European transition while limiting possible distortions of competition”, said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy.
