Energy from the sunrenewable, sustainable provided by 52,000 photovoltaic panels installed on the roofs of the pavilions of Fiera Milano in Rho on a surface of 330,000 square metersequal to that of 45 football fields: the maxi-green plant was “turned on” this Thursday and is the largest and most powerful plant of the kind in Italy made on roofs, among the top 10 in the world and second in Europe.
The infrastructure created by A2A with Fair Foundation – through the joint ventureand Fair Renew – which represents an example of national excellence within the scope of renewable energieswill have an expected annual production of 21.6 GWh – i.e. the consumption of approximately 7,800 families – which will allow avoid the emission of over 9,800 tonnes of CO2 per year and a total installed power of 18 MWp.
The photovoltaic system will make it possible to cover part of Fiera Milano's needs for the Rho exhibition centre, while the residual portion of the green energy generated will be fed into the national grid. Not only that, it's the first in terms of performance among those of the European exhibition centres and ahead of Barcelona (5.9 GWh), Stuttgart (4.3) and Munich (2.7). A record that confirms the Fiera Milano Group's attention and strategy towards sustainability and the energy transition.
“This project is an important one technological milestone for the development of renewable and a confirmation of A2A's key role in favor of the country's energy transition. An infrastructure in line with the strategy of our Industrial Plan to 2035, which provides for investments of 22 billion euros also intended for the development and strengthening of networks, essential to accompany our cities on the path towards decarbonisation” he explained Renato MazzonciniCEO of A2A, speaking at the presentation with Attilio Fontana president of the Lombardy Region, Emiliana Brognoli councilor for public works, innovation and smart cities Municipality of Rho, Enrico Pazzali president of the Fiera Milano Foundation e Francesco ConciCEO and general manager of Fiera Milano.
“The new plant, currently unique in Italy, constitutes a replicable model for urban transformation – continued Mazzoncini -. We will continue to work to face the challenges of the future, consolidating our commitment to the renewable energy sector. With this system Fiera reaches an extremely important level of self-sufficiency. Obviously part of the energy will continue to come from the completely green grid, however level of self-sufficiency which guarantees a system of this kind is very high. And the benefits for the environment are equivalent to removing the CO2 produced by 10,000 cars circulating on the road.”
“The construction of this plant is part of the industrial plan investments which includes, among its strategic routes, initiatives and projects aimed at supporting the ecological transition of the exhibition and conference districtsinvesting in highly sustainable, innovative infrastructure and solutions and has a fundamental impact on the competitiveness of Fiera Milano. It is the most sustainable exhibition center in our country, with the ability to attract international events who ask for sustainability as a prerequisite – he explained Enrico Pazzali – and confirms our role as a proactive shareholder of the Foundation in making Fiera Milano increasingly competitive and sustainable with the modernization of its structures also through new business opportunitiesas in the case of the adaptation of the pavilions in view of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2026of the competitions that will take place on these facilities which we will create in two pavilions: speed skating and women's ice hockey”.
“In line with the strategic plan which also plans to develop entertainment because the renovation of the pavilions 13 and 15 will allow us to have a site of almost 35,000 m2 which does not exist in Milan, with the possibility of hosting events that we would never have thought of organising. Indoor athletics, tennis, musical events that require such large spaces, concerts with 30 thousand people indoors or 10 thousand seats come to mind. Many elements that can open up the opportunity for the Fair to expand the portfolio of offers on the market”.
Enrico Pazzali then underlined the Foundation's commitment to society and the territory: “We try to support with part of our profit some elements that will allow the less fortunate to get closer to the more fortunate ones. This is somewhat of the mission that the Foundation has given itself Fiera Milano from the pandemic, with the hospital at the Fair”.
“The photovoltaic system is one of the most important points of the new integrated sustainability plan 2024-2027 – he underlined Francesco Conci -. Sustainability is a fundamental element of our development strategy which today becomes a qualifying criterion for attracting and hosting large traveling events. We strongly believe that it can be a competitive advantage and a fkey player to drive business growth. The integrated sustainability plan presented last month incorporates 30 quantitative objectives. Among these, we set ourselves the goal of increasing the percentage of electricity from renewable sources from 38% to 70%. Furthermore, as already anticipated by the 2024-2027 strategic plan, we are working on a new event dedicated to ttechnologies for the decarbonisation of industrial processes”.
“In the Lombardy Region, great agreements are always made, there are great possibilities of creating synergy between important entities such as Fiera Milano and A2A, two major players in the area and together we can achieve objectives. This project goes in the direction of sustainability, which it should not be seen as a duty, but an opportunity,” he commented Attilio Fontana who added: “It is an opportunity for a better life for all our people which we are absolutely in favor of. In the regional development plan we wanted to add the word sustainablebut on condition that it is not alone environmentalbut also economic and social, three elements that must coexist to avoid the creation of difficult situations. This plant is on the roof, and as we also hope it does not occupy agricultural land as we hope and this is an opportunity without any kind of controversy. Congratulations and always go Fiera”.
The photovoltaic system, whose construction work started in 2020, was completed in three phases: in April 2022 the first part was delivered, 12 sections for an area of 200 thousand m2, with a power of 8.2 MWp and an annual energy production of approximately 10 GWh; the second phase, concluded in February this year, saw the construction of a further 5 sections over 60 thousand m2, with 4 MWp of power and a production of approximately 5 GWh; with the last phase, which marks the completion of the work, 4 sections were added, with 5.8 MWp of power and a production of 7 GWh.
Furthermore, from 2020, 100% of the electricity used by Fiera Milano Congressi for the Allianz MiCo Congress Center in Milan comes from renewable sources covered by the relevant guarantee of origin certificates