Wind farm in Italy. Author: Raffaele Esposito. License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic

Italian energy company Edison (BIT:EDNR) today laid out an ambition to accelerate growth in renewables, aiming to increase its wind and photovoltaic (PV) power capacity from the current 1.1 GW to 4 GW by 2030.

The company, which is part of French group EDF (EPA:EDF), also said it is studying a possible partnership for a minority stake of its wind and solar operations bundled in Edison Renewables. Reuters reported last month that the Italian utility was preparing to sell an up-to-40% interest in its renewable energy generation division.

Edison said its plans, representing investments of EUR 3 billion (USD 3.6bn) by 2030, support the energy transition and are in line with the Italian Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) and the European Green Deal.

The company will expand its renewable energy capacity mainly through organic growth, more specifically existing wind farm repowering and greenfield solar projects, and through selective merger and acquisition (M&A) operations.

Part of the renewables growth will be dedicated to the production of green hydrogen.

The growth plan also envisages the development of necessary flexibility tools, such as hydroelectric pumping and storage batteries, as well as the “latest” gas generation to complement intermittent renewables.