In the Ferrara countryside, the sun is shining, and the land is not lacking either. On the Apennine ridges, the wind only arrives where geography allows it, but landscape restrictions often stop it. This is where the renewable energy game is played in Emilia Romagna: an industrial, energy-hungry region, used to running fast, but still behind on green electricity. Only 21% of regional production comes from renewable sources, while the share of total energy consumption ranges between 15 and 18%. The first number is 1,146 MW. This is the power of photovoltaic, agrivoltaic, and wind projects currently undergoing only Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures, without a single regional authorization: 735 MW concern agricultural solar, another 411 wind power.
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The biggest issue is Ferrara, where 627 MW of agrivoltaics are concentrated: potential investments that tell the story of the conflict with the world of those who cultivate the land. The ranking changes for wind: Parma leads with 136 megawatts, followed by Bologna with 107 and Rimini with 72. Small numbers compared to the large parks in the South, but significant where windy areas are few and often under restriction. At the regional tail end, a second national package is added: about one gigawatt of offshore plants, between wind and floating photovoltaic, with state EIA already approved but still awaiting calls for incentives from Fer 2: here stands the Agnes project for offshore wind in Ravenna, one of the largest in Italy. Finally, there are seven positive state EIAs, but without a single authorization, for another approximately 480 MW of photovoltaic.
Vincenzo Colla, vice president of the Region with a delegation for the green economy, however, rejects the idea of a stagnant territory. “It is known that Emilia Romagna does not have the hydroelectric power of Lombardy, Veneto, Aosta Valley, and Piedmont, which allows for very high volumes,” he observes. And on wind power he adds: “There is no use beating around the bush, there is a territorial conflict between those who say everything is good and those who say everything is bad. We must seek the greatest possible consensus.” The reference also goes to the Agnes project off Ravenna: “It already has all the permits. We are just waiting for the call that determines a tariff suitable to guarantee the investment.”
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Meanwhile, the Region is running on the Pniec schedule. As of May 31, 2026, Emilia Romagna is at 88.79% of the 2026 target for installed renewable electricity: 281 MW remain to be completed by the end of the year, out of the 2,504 total counted since 2021. Terna indicates, in the first five months, an additional 223 MW of photovoltaic, the third growth after Sicily and Lombardy.
The turning point, at least regulatory, should have come with the regional law on suitable areas, which Emilia Romagna approved in May within the times provided by the legislation, and which identifies the zones where to accelerate plants, favoring productive areas, roofs, parking lots, and already compromised spaces. The text also sets agricultural limits: a maximum of 1.5% of the regional UAA (utilized agricultural area) and 2% of the municipal UAA. “After delays also due to national legislation, in the region we made the law in two months,” Colla claims.
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