QAZAQ GREEN. Enel Green Power is opening a new photovoltaic plant 'Malvezzi Solar Park – Fornasini Foundation' near Ferrara. It is the first to be built in Italy with the direct involvement of citizens, thanks to the Scelta Rinnovabile (“Renewable Choice”) initiative, the company's press release said.

It was inaugurated on March 24 and will produce almost 25 GWh of clean energy per year, thereby avoiding an estimated 11,000 tons of annual CO2 emissions.

The first solar park with Renewable Choice

The new solar park is the first project to be implemented as part of our Renewable Choice (Scelta Rinnovabile) program. This program is intended to raise awareness about the energy transition by inviting people to be both key players in – and beneficiaries of – this process. Basically, it is a form of crowdfunding in which all citizens can take part in order to help build renewable energy plants while reaping benefits from the investment. Those who participate can in fact recover the capital paid in initially and receive a fixed annual economic return for the duration of the initiative. The campaign is primarily aimed at residents in the municipality where the plant is built. They enjoy a period of exclusivity and particularly advantageous economic conditions, after which the initiative is open to all citizens.

A record-breaking campaign

At its launch, the Renewable Choice initiative was a great success. In the first 15 days of the campaign, when access to the investment was reserved exclusively for residents of the Municipality of Poggio Renatico, the response was such that the planned fundraising target of 100,000 euros was easily reached. As a result of this, the crowdfunding cap was raised to 200,000 euros, a figure that was reached on the first day that the investment was open to all citizens, a month ahead of schedule.

With initiatives like this, we are therefore able to accelerate the energy transition while also having a positive social impact. Indeed, the new model is one of shared value creation: value for companies is constantly accompanied by tangible benefits for local communities and society in general.