Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) Italy is delighted to have achieved a successful decision before the Basilicata Regional Administrative Court (“Basilicata TAR”) in a dispute between an Italian energy operator and the Basilicata Region on artificial fractioning and its 20 MW maximum capacity limit on photovoltaic plants.
In sentence no. 721 of 16 November 2020, the Basilicata TAR annulled the Basilicata Region’s order rejecting WFW’s client’s, operator Mara Solar S.r.l., application for the issuance of a Single Authorisation, for the construction of a 20 MW photovoltaic plant in the municipality of Ferrandina (Matera Province).
Specifically, the Basilicata Region based its decision on the argument that the application submitted should have been considered jointly with other related applications, which would mean the Ferrandina plant could be deemed to have a “cumulative” capacity of circa 50 MW, well in excess of the above mentioned 20 MW capacity limit.
Accepting the claimant position argued by WFW, the Basilicata TAR determined that the criteria for artificial fractioning were not applicable in multiple instances and, in an interpretation with broader national constitutional implications, that the doubts raised regarding the potential unconstitutionality of the 20 MW regional limit were “not manifestly unfounded”.
The WFW Italy team was led by Rome Energy Partner and regulatory expert Tiziana Manenti, working closely with Associate Gianluca Di Stefano.
Tiziana commented: “We are delighted to have achieved this landmark success on behalf of our client, which is also a great result for Italian and international investors looking to help develop the renewable energy in Basilicata and a boost for the expansion of environmentally friendly energy sources generally”.
