Italy has agreed to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare field north of Rome into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world’s first carbon-neutral state. Source: Crux.
The agreement stipulates that the development of the Santa Maria Galeria site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimise the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement.
Details weren’t released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels, but won’t benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar.
Italy, for its part, can use the field in its accounting for reaching European Union clean energy targets. Any excess electricity generated by the farm beyond the Vatican’s needs would be given to the local community, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not public.
Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under 100 million euros ($A178.5 million) to develop the solar farm.
Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the agreement with Italy’s ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto. The Italian Parliament must approve the arrangement since it has financial implications for the territory, which holds extraterritorial status in Italy.
The Santa Maria Galeria site has long been the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers located there since the 1950s. The once-rural site some 35 kilometres north of Rome is dominated by two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae that transmit news from the Church in dozens of languages around the globe.
Over the years, as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukemia, which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link but cut back the transmissions.
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Vatican strikes solar farm deal to become the world’s first carbon-neutral state (By Nicole Winfield, AP via Crux)
