Green electricity for more environmentally friendly chocolate packaging

For a long time, Italy was considered a laggard when it came to Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with renewable energies. But now the trend is picking up speed in the land where lemons grow: Axpo Italia’s objective is to further promote PPAs in its home market.

The most recent example is a so-called Corporate PPA with the Carcano Antonio S.p.A. Group from Northern Italy, a European leader in the production of flexible packaging made of aluminum foil. Founded in 1880 and based on Lake Como, the industrial company requires around 67,000 MWh of electricity per year for its production facilities. Thanks to an agreement with Axpo Italia, Carcano will use 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources over the next three years: in future, for example, chocolate, butter or coffee capsules will be wrapped in aluminum foil from Carcano, produced in an environmentally friendly way using wind power from Sicily.

50 wind turbines are turning just for the Carcano Group

The agreement focuses on the wind turbines of the Italian Moncada Energy Group, one of the leading players in the market for renewable energy sources in Italy. Two wind farms of their subsidiary Enpower, with 50 wind turbines located near the Sicilian city of Agrigento and a total installed capacity of 45 MW, are ideally suited to meet the specific energy requirements for the aluminum production of Carcano in a fully sustainable manner. As a result, around 21,000 tonnes of CO2 can be saved annually.

In addition, Axpo Italia ensures that the aluminum producer regularly receives detailed reports. These include analyses of the wind farm's electricity production, the energy consumption of the aluminum rolling mills as well as certificates on the green energy production path of the wind turbines in Sicily.

Simone Rodolfi, Head Origination & Business Development at Axpo Italia, comments: "In Italy, too, there is a growing realization that the time is ripe to break new ground. Especially companies that consume a lot of energy, place environmental sustainability at the center of their strategic considerations. Carcano is a very good example of this. With the help of PPAs they can secure certified clean energy without having to resort to state subsidies. At Axpo we have been working in this direction for a long time. Having already concluded numerous long-term PPAs throughout Europe, we now want to push this business on a broad basis in Italy as well".

Working together as pioneers for PPAs

The Corporate PPA between Axpo Italia and Carcano is one of the first multi-year contracts for the supply of renewable energy in the Italian aluminum sector. The two companies have thus to a certain extent opened the door, others are expected to follow soon.

Marco Cariboni, Energy Manager at Carcano, is pleased with this pioneering spirit: "We have long been striving to find solutions for optimized raw material utilization. In Axpo Italia we have found a strong partner who shares our environmental awareness. They have made it possible for us to cover 100% of our electricity requirements from renewable energies".

In addition to the electricity from the wind farm in Sicily, the aluminum producer also relies on its own hydroelectric power plant in Valtellina and on solar plants located on the company premises to supply its plants. This ensures that in future not only delicious chocolate can be packed in environmentally friendly aluminum foil, but also other products from the food, confectionery, beverage, pharmaceutical and technical sectors in which Carcano is active.