Italy's Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE) published two new autorizzazioni uniche (AU) on 22–23 October 2026 for battery energy storage projects totalling more than 275MW, issued via decrees 313/2026 and 314/2026.
ACL Energy's 250MW Lucera 1
The larger of the two awards went to ACL SPV 16 Srl, a vehicle of Milan-based ACL Energy, which obtained the AU under decree 314/2026 for the "Lucera 1 BESS" project, with 250MW of power. The project is located in the municipalities of Lucera and Foggia, in the province of Foggia, Puglia. It foresees 400 battery containers and 50 power conversion units (PCS), with a construction schedule of about 30 months.
With Lucera, ACL Energy reaches at least four authorizations in the last two months for a total of 728MW: "Carpi BESS" (102MW) and "Castelverde BESS" (260MW) in September, "Bari Ovest BESS" (116MW) in recent days, and now Lucera 1. The pace illustrates how quickly permitting can move in Italy once projects clear the single-authorization process.
Metlen subsidiary's Castelnuovo Scrivia project
Under decree 313/2026, Myt Renewables Development 4 Srl, a subsidiary of Greek group Metlen Energy & Metals, obtained the AU for the "Castelnuovo Scrivia" BESS project: 25MW of injection capacity and 104.16MWh of storage capacity, located in Castelnuovo Scrivia, in the province of Alessandria. The system will consist of 28 battery containers and 7 PCS, with a schedule of about 30 months of works.
Ownership transfers: Quartucciu and Foiano
MASE also processed two transfers of existing authorizations. Via decree 311/2026, it transferred to Enel Libra Flexsys Srl the AU granted in June 2023 to EnergyQ1BESS Srl for a storage system at Quartucciu, in the province of Cagliari. The original authorization covered 180MW of nominal power; in early 2025 the company communicated it would build 74.55MW, in line with the capacity awarded in the 2024 Capacity Market auction.
Decree 312/2026 transfers from FRV Italia to Foiano BESS Srl the AU for the "Foiano" BESS project: 58MW of power and 240.72MWh of capacity, in the municipalities of Foiano di Val Fortore and Molinara, in the province of Benevento. The sale of the project dates back to a contract of 30 December 2025.
Permitting as the binding constraint
Across the EU, battery deployment has for years been slowed by long waits for regulatory permits and grid connections. Italy's single-authorization regime, which consolidates approvals into one decree, is one of the mechanisms member states are using to compress those timelines. The flurry of October decrees — two new awards and two ownership transfers within 48 hours — suggests the pipeline of shovel-ready storage in Italy is deepening, even as developers face 30-month construction cycles and growing competition for grid capacity.
Source: Rinnovabili News (rnanews.eu)
This article was assisted by AI analysis. Please refer to the original source for official information.