Can sunny Sicily become a clean energy hub for Europe? Some residents need convincing

Photo:  Copyright  East Palermo energy community. Retrieved from euronews.com

The island’s governor threatened to stop approving new solar plants until Sicily receives some special benefits.

When Salvatore Cerrito heard the Sicilian governor Renato Schifani vowing to stop new solar panels being installed, he was speechless.

“Our agricultural fields are ravaged by the panels, so we pay a price. Does this activity produce any job opportunity? No: once installed, it is managed at distance. Do they produce energy? No, because it goes to the central state,” Schifani was quoted saying by the news agency Italpress last month.

Cerrito is in charge of the East Palermo energy community on the island, an association of citizens, private business and public bodies producing renewable energy.

In his famous novel Il Gattopardo, Italian writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa describes a society in which an omnipresent sun weighs over the decisions of human beings. “The sun showed itself to be the true ruler of Sicily,” Tomasi wrote.

With some reason: three out of ten of the sunniest cities in Europe are located on the island, with Palermo enjoying an average of 340 sunny hours per month.

“This is a great opportunity. And it’s free,” Cerrito tells Euronews Green. “When [EU Commission president] Von Der Leyen said that Sicily can become a clean energy hub for Europe, she was not joking.”