The government of Italy has announced plans to ban any further developments of solar PV installations on certain farmland as part of a range of measures to “strengthen” farming and other businesses.
The Italian cabinet met on Monday (May 6), and afterwards announced a sweet of “urgent provisions” for businesses in agriculture, fishing, and aquaculture.
The proposed measures were put forward by prime minister Giorgia Meloni, agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida and business minister Adolfo Urso.
The measures cover a wide range of areas apart from solar PV, including African swine fever, unfair trading practices (UTPs), controlling spread of alien species, and strengthening controls in the agri-food sector, among other issues.
Among the proposal is a ban on the installation of new solar PV systems, and on the extension of existing ones, on areas that are classified as ‘agricultural’ in urban development plans.
The ban will not apply to installations funded through Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (which every EU country has, and which is funded by the EU), nor does it apply to ‘agrovoltaic’ projects (where farming and solar PV installations co-exist), along with certain other exemptions where other developments are already planned (such as motorways and airports).
Other measures proposed by the government for the agriculture sector include: changes to mortgage and loan repayments, new tax credit regulations; amendments to UTP rules; and combatting African swive fever.
It is understood that the move by the government to ban solar PV installation on some farmland has been criticised by renewable energy groups.
Italia Solare, the representative body for Italy’s solar energy sector, said before the ban was announced that the government’s position is “uncertain and fluctuating”, and “not consistent with the potential of the technology”.
“As an association we are firmly convinced that it is a serious mistake to slow down the development of [PV],” the group said.
According to Italia Solare, the solar energy production target that Italy has already signed up to can be met “without any significant damage to agriculture and the landscape”. The industry group called on the government to avoid “generalized and unjustified bans on the location of [PV] systems”.