Italian Railways' €1.3 Billion Solar Investment Plan
MILAN (Reuters) - Italian state railways Ferrovie dello Stato plans to invest 1.3 billion euros ($1.36 billion) in a photovoltaic plant with an initial 1 gigawatt (GW) capacity that would cover 19% of its energy needs by 2029, the CEO said in a newspaper interview.
Chief Executive Stefano Donnarumma told Il Sole 24 Ore on Sunday the project could draw interest from industrial or financial players that develop and run such plants.
"We are not interested in running them. But we could sign contracts to use them for a set period, or we could also buy existing plants, maybe with a partner," he said.
Asked if there were any contacts with potential co-investors, Donnarumma said the project still had to be refined, but discussions with banks had started to secure financing.
Given that energy is not part of Ferrovie's core business, Donnarumma said a likely option was to create a dedicated corporate vehicle to carry out the investment, and potential partners could buy a stake.
The idea, he said, would be to double the project's installed capacity to 2.2 GW by 2034 and cover 35-40% of Ferrovie's energy needs by then.
($1 = 0.9589 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za. Editing by Jane Merriman)
