The capacity market auction, which allocates one-year contracts for existing capacity and 15-year contracts for new capacity linked to the capacity available for the electricity system (CDP), has concluded. The auction launched by Italy’s National Transmission Grid Operator is valid for the 2024 delivery year. Enel was awarded contracts for 12.9 GW out of a total of approximately 41.5 GW assigned by the operator.

Specifically, Enel was awarded 10.4 GW of existing capacity, 1 GW of foreign capacity, and 1.5 GW of new capacity, over two thirds of which will be met by battery energy storage systems (BESS) and the remainder by renewable facilities, as well as by the upgrading and refurbishment of some gas-fired plants already in service that are necessary to ensure the adequacy and safety of the Italy’s electricity system.

In particular, Enel was awarded 0.5 GW for new capacity in Sardinia, which will be exclusively covered through the creation of storage systems and without having to invest in new gas-fired plants, thus taking a concrete step towards Sardinia’s transformation into a green island.

Introduced in 2019, capacity market auctions are one of the tools provided by Italy’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan to achieve the country’s energy transition objectives, allowing the closure of coal-fired power plants by 2025 and promoting the necessary investments in flexible technology to ensure the adequacy and safety conditions of the country’s electricity system.