Zenith Energy buys 12-MWp Puglia solar, eyes battery add-on capacity

• London-listed Zenith Energy acquired a 12-MWp ground-mount project in Puglia and secured adjacent land to enable a future battery retrofit.

Zenith Energy has picked up a 12-MWp ground-mounted solar project in Italy’s Puglia region, extending a steady run of small-to-mid-scale acquisitions. Alongside the deal, the company secured nearby land to support a potential battery energy storage system (BESS), giving the site a clear path to hybridization once permits and economics align.

Why Puglia? The heel of Italy’s boot enjoys strong irradiance and a mature interconnection landscape, with grid nodes that can absorb daytime PV and benefit from evening flexibility. At 12 MWp, the project is lender-friendly and operationally manageable, sized for string inverters, granular telemetry, and a plant controller aligned with local grid-code requirements for reactive power and ramp-rate limits. Expect bifacial modules on single-axis trackers to stretch output into morning and evening shoulders, with DC/AC ratios tuned for year-round yield rather than headline peaks.

The battery angle matters. Two to four hours of storage co-located at the point of interconnection could shift midday surpluses into the Italian evening peak, raise capture rates, and open ancillary-service revenues. Co-location also means shared substation infrastructure and unified controls—lower capex and simpler dispatch compared with standalone storage. By reserving land early, Zenith avoids a common retrofit choke point and shortens the path from concept to commissioning.

Commercially, the company can pursue a mix of corporate PPA, utility offtake, and calibrated merchant exposure, then layer storage to firm deliveries as spreads between daytime lows and evening highs widen. On the ground, standard environmental measures will apply: traffic and noise management during build, landscaping to soften views, biodiversity-friendly groundcover under arrays, and recycling provisions for modules and balance-of-plant components.

Execution detail will define the timetable: early reservations for transformers, MV switchgear, and protection systems still set critical paths across Europe. Post-COD, disciplined O&M—thermal scans, IV-curve tracing, tracker stow optimization—will underpin availability while the BESS plan moves through studies and permitting.

Zoomed out, this is a compact, sensible deal with optionality. Zenith adds dependable daytime megawatt-hours now and keeps the door open to deliver higher-value evening megawatts later.