SSE has taken a final investment decision to proceed with its first onshore wind farm projects in Italy, adding to its expansion in Continental Europe.

Construction work is expected to begin in the coming weeks on SSE Renewables’ Castel Favorito and Masseria la Cattiva wind farm sites in Puglia in Southern Italy, with the two projects having a combined installed capacity of 17.3MW comprising five onshore wind turbines.

Recently, SSE announced production of renewable energy for the first time in mainland Europe having achieved first power at the 28MW Chaintrix-Bierges and Vélye Wind Farm in France’s Grand-Est region while building work is also underway on the company’s 64MW Jubera onshore wind project in Spain, which is targeting delivery in 2025.

The addition of these two latest onshore wind projects takes SSE’s expanding Southern European portfolio of in-construction sites to over 100MW. Across Southern Europe, SSE Renewables is working in Italy, Spain, France and Greece to deliver an overall pipeline of around 2.3GW of secured and 2.1GW of future prospect onshore wind and grid-scale solar photovoltaic and battery storage projects.

Gianluca Mercurio, country manager for SSE Renewables in Italy, said: "We are delighted to be starting construction on our Castel Favorito and Masseria la Cattiva wind farms in Puglia. These are strategic projects for SSE Renewables as they are our first wind farms to enter construction in Italy. We are now looking forward to working with our supply chain partners to safely and successfully deliver each of these onshore wind farms. When complete, these wind farms will play an important role in generating homegrown renewable energy from Puglia for Italian energy consumers, helping strengthen security of supply and meeting vital climate targets.”

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