The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €89.5 million Italian measure made available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF') to support the expansion of 3Sun's solar panel plant in Catania, Sicily. The measure will contribute to the EU's strategic objectives relating to the European Green Deal and to reinforce the EU strategic autonomy.

The measure notified by Italy will be funded by the RRF, following the Commission's positive assessment of Italy's Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by the Council. The aid will take the form of a €89.5 million direct grant to support 3Sun's investment for the expansion of its solar panels factory in Catania, Sicily. 3Sun is part of the Enel Group.

The project will expand the annual capacity of 3Sun's existing plant from 200 MW to more than 3 GW. It will also introduce a new technology called “TANDEM”, which will improve the panel efficiency and therefore increase significantly the energy generated by each MW installed.

The factory will be the largest solar panels manufacturing site in Europe, which will ultimately reduce the EU dependency on imports from foreign manufacturers. The gigafactory is expected to create almost 650 direct jobs.

The Commission assessed the Italian measure under EU State aid rules. In addition, the Commission found that The measure has a limited impact on competition and trade within the EU. In particular, it is necessary and appropriate to ensure the expansion of the solar panel plant.

“This €89.5 million measure enables Italy to support the expansion of 3Sun’s solar panel plant in Catania, contributing to the regional development and competitiveness of this area. Funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility, this aid measure will contribute to the European transition while limiting possible distortions of competition,” said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy.