Octopus Energy, Nexta team up on 1.1 GW of renewables in Italy

UK’s Octopus Energy Group said on Wednesday that it is setting up a joint venture (JV) with Milan-based renewables developer Nexta Capital Partners to back the development of 1.1 GW of new onshore wind, solar and energy storage projects in southern Italy by 2025.

The group’s recently launched EUR-220-million (USD 215m) fund Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP) will provide funding to Nexta to spend it on securing land, grid connections, planning permits and local community engagement and get the projects to the shovel-ready stage.

OEDP is managed by Octopus Energy Generation, the UK energy supplier’s generation arm, which returns to the Italian market through the transaction with Nexta. During its first run in Italy, Octopus invested in 173 MW of subsidy-free solar projects before selling them to local utility A2A SpA (BIT:A2A) in February 2021.

Nexta and Octopus expect the new renewables capacity to power some 1.2 million homes in Italy, and help the country reduce its reliance of imported gas and lower future energy bills, the press release reads.

“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,” commented Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 0.977)

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