Italia

A special project for a special region

Santa Lucia is located in the Tuscia Viterbese, a region of exceptional natural beauty and cultural heritage with a history stretching back thousands of years — Tuscia corresponds to ancient Etruria, the land of the Etruscans.

Equally unique is the PV project implemented here by CCE Italia in cooperation with EPC partner Sunnerg. On the site where the installation is currently under construction, there are 1,130 olive trees of the renowned Canino variety. CCE Italia is committed to preserving these trees on the project site (with the exception of 24 that are no longer productive), in order to combine energy generation with agricultural production.

To provide the olive trees with the best possible conditions, they were carefully uprooted and replanted near the area where the solar modules will be installed. To ensure the success of this synergy between agriculture and energy, an irrigation system has also been set up to reliably water the plants.

In addition, CCE Italia is planting 57 more olive trees within the project area. In total, 1,163 trees will share the space with 23,272 photovoltaic modules, forming a sustainable and harmonious coexistence.

The Oil of Santa Lucia

Die Olivenbäume des Projekts Santa Lucia gehören zum Monokultivar Canino, einer für die Toskana typischen und besonders wertvollen Sorte. Es handelt sich um eine alte Sorte, die sehr widerstandsfähig ist und sich an Böden und Bedingungen anpassen kann, die für andere Sorten unwirtlich sind. Das aus ihr gewonnene Öl ist tiefgrün mit hellen Reflexen, mäßig würzig, mit einer leicht bitteren Note.

Im November und Dezember 2024 erntete CCE Italia die ersten Früchte der Santa-Lucia-Bäume; daraus entstand qualitativ hochwertiges natives Olivenöl extra von Pflanzen, die auf einem Photovoltaikfeld angebaut wurden. Angesichts der zunehmenden Schwierigkeiten, mit denen die Landwirte durch die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels konfrontiert sind, wird die Verbindung von Landwirtschaft und Photovoltaik zu Lösungen, die von den Bedürfnissen der Landwirtschaft ausgehen, immer wichtiger: Die Agri-Photovoltaik bietet zahlreiche Möglichkeiten, um auf die Klimaänderungen zu reagieren, eine doppelte Nutzung des Bodens zu gewährleisten und somit die regionale Energie- und Lebensmittelproduktion zu stützen.

The olive trees of the Santa Lucia project belong to the Monocultivar Canino, a particularly valuable variety typical of Tuscany. It is an ancient cultivar known for its resilience and its ability to adapt to soils and conditions that are inhospitable to other varieties. The oil derived from it is deep green with bright reflections, moderately spicy, and has a slightly bitter note.

In November and December 2024, CCE Italia harvested the first fruits from the Santa Lucia trees, producing high-quality extra virgin olive oil from plants grown on a photovoltaic field.

Given the growing challenges farmers face due to the impacts of climate change, the combination of agriculture and photovoltaics is becoming increasingly important as a solution grounded in the needs of agriculture. Agri-photovoltaics offers numerous opportunities to respond to climate change, enable dual land use, and thus support both regional energy and food production.