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Vatican plans solar and agriculture plant to cover its electricity needs: Report
The project could make Vatican City energy self-sufficient and send surplus electricity to Italy, sources said.
The Vatican plans to build a roughly €100 million agrivoltaic plant at the Santa Maria di Galeria estate, sources say, with an expected capacity of 80 to 90 megawatts and completion within 18 to 24 months.
A 2025 bilateral agreement between Italy and the Holy See authorized development at the Santa Maria di Galeria estate, which has hosted Vatican Radio facilities since the 1950s.
Tracking solar panels will cover about 200 hectares of the roughly 450-hectare site, positioning Vatican City to achieve energy self-sufficiency while surplus power serves Holy See-linked properties including Rome's Bambino Gesu hospital.
Contracts for infrastructure will be put out to tender in the coming weeks, building on the Vatican's 2008 renewable energy precedent when German companies SolarWorld and SMA Solar Technology donated 2,400 photovoltaic panels for Nervi Hall.
Italy's ratification law mandates that project implementation must not impose new public financial burdens, ensuring the development operates under a framework of tax exemptions while advancing the Holy See's climate commitments.
For its own needs, the Vatican will build an innovative "agrosolar power plant" - a facility on agricultural land whose photovoltaic panels to produce electricity are high enough above the ground that it can be used for agricultural production or livestock.