The launch of the first photovoltaic project in Italy marks a decisive strategic step for Altea Green Power: the shift from pure developer to an integrated developer / Independent Power Producer (IPP) model.
In PV Magazine Italia, our Founder and CEO Giovanni Di Pascale discussed the reasons and vision behind this change in an interview with journalist Sergio Matalucci.
This shift stems from a clear industrial decision: not only to develop projects, but to enhance their value directly by adopting an active IPP approach and therefore generating more recurring and predictable revenue over time.
This new model also supports international growth, with investments under review in Europe and the development of strategic initiatives such as a joint venture involving approximately 500 MW of BESS assets with industrial partners, while retaining an equity interest even after the plants enter operation.
Excerpt from the interview
Could the decision to hold BESS assets strengthen your negotiating position and your ability to offer services to clients, especially international ones, interested in owning, but not managing, BESS plants in Italy?
The market’s development will certainly require increasingly specialized expertise in managing BESS plants. We see this as a major growth area. Against this backdrop, we are assessing the creation of a new division focused on trading and tolling services, through acquisitions or strategic joint venture partnerships.
From an economic perspective, how do you assess projects under development, both photovoltaic and Storage? Is demand for new projects rising or falling? What about project prices?
We see a pricing market broadly aligned with the other main European countries. For photovoltaic and wind projects, demand remains extremely robust, from both financial and industrial investors. In the BESS segment, however, we believe the market will gradually reward projects developed according to highly rigorous technical and infrastructure criteria. Particularly regarding connection quality and proximity to strategic power stations.
Several developers in Northern Europe are changing or have already changed their business model, starting to manage photovoltaic projects directly and keep them on their balance sheets. You too have also done this recently. Can you explain the reason behind this decision?
In recent years, the renewables market has changed significantly. Today, we believe the natural path for players such as Altea Green Power is to combine development activities with an increasingly active role as an Independent Power Producer. The decision to start holding certain photovoltaic assets directly reflects a long-term industrial and strategic assessment. On the one hand, it enables us to capture greater value from internally developed projects, while retaining over time part of the profitability generated by the plants. On the other, it enables us to develop a recurring and more predictable revenue base. This is a particularly relevant factor today in a market environment marked by volatility and regulatory complexity. We also believe that managing assets directly further enhances our industrial, operational and financial expertise across the entire value chain. This makes us an even more authoritative counterpart for both institutional investors and industrial partners. The recent acquisition of our first photovoltaic plant therefore marks a first tangible step in this direction. This is consistent with the path set out in the 2024-2028 Business Plan and with the goal of building over time an asset portfolio capable of generating stable and sustainable long-term value.