Bekaert and Edison Next have signed a 12-year on-site solar power purchase agreement (PPA) at the Bekaert plant in Sardinia, Italy.

A press release said that the 6.1 MW solar installation marks another major milestone in Bekaert’s sustainability strategy, Creating a Better Tomorrow. The PPA will see the installation of a photovoltaic system at the Bekaert plant in the province of Cagliari, Sardinia. The solar installation is capable of meeting more than 20% of the plant’s current energy requirements.

The photovoltaic system at the Sardinia plant will be completed and operative in 2025. Edison Next will finance, develop and manage the installation. Covering an area of about 23,000 sq m, the system is designed to produce more than 11.2 GWh a year and reduce annual emissions of about 3,000 metric tons of CO₂. Bekaert Sardinia expects to self-consume 93% of the renewable electricity generated.

“This state-of-the-art solar project at Bekaert’s Sardinia plant incorporates trackers that follow the path of the sun to optimize renewable energy production,” said Michael Hamilton, VP Procurement Commodities Category at Bekaert. “It will accelerate our sustainability ambitions as well as make us less dependent on energy price inflation. Since opening the solar plant in Burgos, Spain, last year this marks a next milestone to achieve the goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 46.2% by 2030.”

“We are proud to be able to contribute to the sustainability goals of Bekaert, one of the Italian, European and global leaders in the steel sector,” said Marco Steardo, Industry Director of Edison Next. “The development of this large photovoltaic system in fact marks an important step in the decarbonization path of Bekaert Sardinia and the Bekaert Group in general towards their ambition of net zero by 2050.”