23.11.2020 | Axpo Italia builds a solar plant for the Italian bakery products supplier Italmill
A full load of sun for pizza and panettone
"Buon appetito": From spring 2021, a new photovoltaic system on the premises of the baking ingredients manufacturer Italmill will ensure that tasty pizzas and sweet baked goods produced in an environmentally friendly way will end up on the tables of Italian households.
Axpo Italia is constantly expanding its commitment to renewable energies: The Axpo subsidiary helps Italian companies, for example, to become "green" by designing, building and managing solar plants that enable companies to produce their own green electricity and consume it on site.
576 solar panels for delicious bakery goods
The latest example is a project that Axpo's subsidiary is implementing in the province of Brescia (Northern Italy). In the coming months, a solar power plant will be built there, consisting of 576 photovoltaic modules, which will produce 204,261 kWh of green electricity per year.
The solar plant will cover around 20% of Italmill's electricity requirements. The company, which belongs to AB Mauri, part of Associated British Foods (ABF), is active in the production and sale of yeast, flour, baking and confectionery ingredients. Its main customers are pizzerias, bakeries and pastry shops. Typical Italian delicacies such as the delicious pizza or the Christmas panettone, are thus baked from ingredients produced with solar power.
Thereby, Axpo Italia and the owners of Italmill are extending their long-standing cooperation. Until now, Axpo Italia had been responsible for managing Italmill's electricity consumption.
Simone Rodolfi, Head of Origination & Business Development at Axpo Italia, comments: "We are experiencing a constantly growing demand from our business customers for self-sufficient green electricity systems. This shows that the topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly important to them. It is part of Axpo Italia's strategy to show companies perspectives on how they can take the lead. This includes, firstly, designing solar systems for the self-consumption and, secondly, drawing up long-term power purchase and supply agreements - so-called corporate PPAs. We are particularly proud of projects like the one we have now concluded with Italmill.”
A charging station for electric cars as a goodie
The solar plant at Italmill's headquarters will be completed by April 2021. Axpo Italia will be responsible for operation and maintenance for ten years after commissioning and will ensure that Italmill not only produces its own green electricity, but also achieves maximum savings in electricity consumption and costs.
The highlight, however, is the fact that Axpo Italia is equipping the solar plant with a charging station for electric cars, so that Italmill's fleet of vehicles can be run on 100 percent green electricity as soon as possible.
