Macquarie Capital and Chiron Energy have launched a joint venture to develop and operate renewable power generation plants and energy storage systems in Italy.
The Chiron Energy Power Generation platform will be 51% owned by Chiron Energy and 49% by Macquarie Capital and has been set up to develop and build at least 1GW of new photovoltaic capacity and 500MW of battery energy storage.
Chiron Energy’s business plan has an objective to reach total investment of approximately €2.5bn and ownership and operation of more than 2GW of photovoltaic capacity and 1GW of BESS by 2035.
The platform will include 115MW of photovoltaic plants already operational in Northern Italy, developed and built by Chiron Energy from 2020 to date. The assets will contribute to achieving the company’s development plan’s target of 1GW of installed photovoltaic capacity.
Once fully operational and over a full year of operation, this capacity is expected to be able to generate approximately 1.4TWh of renewable energy, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 500,000 Italian households.
Access to Chiron’s pipeline aims to also enable rapid growth of the platform with more than 300MW of ready-to-build photovoltaic projects, a further 250MW of late-stage photovoltaic projects and 700MW of BESS currently under development available to contribute to the platform in future.
Looking ahead, the platform also intends to be able to draw on a substantial early-stage opportunity pipeline and approximately 12m sqm of land in Northern Italy already acquired or under option by Chiron.
Claudio Gigli will serve as CEO of the joint venture and Paolo Pesaresi as executive chairman.
Pesaresi, founder and chairman of Chiron Energy, said: “The creation of this important joint venture marks the most significant strategic step in Chiron Energy’s history since its foundation. This partnership enables us to accelerate our growth path considerably while maintaining strong, Italian-led industrial leadership, further strengthening our role in the country’s energy transition, with the aim of enhancing its energy sovereignty and commitment to environmental sustainability.”
Gigli added: “Macquarie Capital’s investment represents far more to us than a financial commitment – it is the choice of a global partner that recognises the quality of our platform, our team and our pipeline. Together, we can create a platform of a new scale, capable of developing innovative and sustainable energy infrastructure deeply rooted in Italy.”
Matthew Edgar, global head of energy transition at Macquarie Capital, said: “Macquarie Capital has been an active investor in the Italian market for several years and has demonstrated a strong track record of deploying capital into high-quality energy-transition projects and companies.”
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