On the island of Sicily, at one of Europe’s southernmost points, plans are underway to bring the solar supply chain to the continent’s shores. 

Italian energy company Enel announced in April last year that, with grants from the EU and Italian government, it will invest €600m to expand its existing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels production facility in Catania, increasing capacity 15-fold from 200 megawatts (MW) to three gigawatts (GW) by 2024. It will produce high-performance bifacial PV modules — panels that can capture sunlight on both sides — and is expected to achieve a capacity of 400MW by September this year.