IN Brief:
- RWE has commissioned the 47.2MW Serra Palino wind farm in Italy’s Apulia region.
- Eight 5.9MW turbines are located across the Sant’Agata di Puglia and Candela area.
- RWE reports approximately 670MW of operating Italian renewable capacity and another 200MW under construction.
RWE has commissioned the 47.2MW Serra Palino onshore wind farm in southern Italy, less than a year after construction began. The project comprises eight 5.9MW turbines across the municipalities of Sant’Agata di Puglia and Candela, in the province of Foggia in Apulia. The completed installation adds operating wind generation to the company’s growing Italian renewable portfolio.
Serra Palino forms part of RWE’s programme to develop and operate wind and solar projects in Italy. The developer began construction in October 2025, when it also started work on the separate 45MW Venusia wind farm in Basilicata. Both schemes had secured places in an Italian renewable energy auction, and their commissioning was targeted for the end of 2026. Serra Palino has therefore entered operation within the timetable set out at construction start.
The eight turbines at Serra Palino each have a stated electrical capacity of 5.9MW, giving the 47.2MW total. The installed capacity is the combined rated output of the machines, whereas annual electricity generation depends on wind conditions, turbine availability, electrical losses, and operational constraints. RWE estimates that the plant can generate enough renewable electricity to match the annual consumption of approximately 40,000 Italian households, a production equivalence rather than a count of customers connected directly to the wind farm.
The project’s published authorisation specified collection cables and a 30/150kV user substation linked through the Deliceto 380/150kV transmission substation. These elements formed the approved electrical connection design alongside the eight turbine positions. They show how generation in separate locations was planned to reach the network through collection, voltage transformation, and export infrastructure, while the final commissioned plant is defined by RWE’s reported 47.2MW turbine rating.
Collection circuits carry electricity from the turbines to a substation, where transformers increase the voltage to the level required for the export interface. Higher voltage reduces current for a given transfer of power and therefore limits resistive losses in cables and other conductors. Switching and protection equipment then supervise faults and the safe isolation of circuits, while metering supports the commercial and grid connection requirements. These functions must operate together with the generating equipment during the commissioning and operating phases.
The earlier permit described eight turbine locations with a maximum aggregate rating of 48MW, based on 6MW machines. RWE has installed eight 5.9MW units, establishing the commissioned rating at 47.2MW. The project has therefore been built within the authorised generating envelope, with its installed equipment determining the actual capacity now reported in operation.
Output from Serra Palino will vary with wind conditions and turbine availability, as it does across other onshore wind farms. Power conversion and control systems regulate the electricity delivered by individual machines, while the collection network transfers that production to the common connection. Protective equipment can disconnect an affected circuit when necessary, preventing a local electrical fault from remaining connected to the wider system. The commissioning milestone confirms that the plant has advanced into RWE’s operating portfolio.
RWE operates 18 onshore wind farms, one photovoltaic plant, and three agrivoltaic plants in Italy. With Serra Palino included, their combined installed capacity is approximately 670MW, which RWE equates to the electricity consumption of more than 550,000 Italian households. These operating assets form the base of the company’s Italian renewables business as construction continues on additional wind and solar installations.
RWE has around 200MW of additional wind and solar capacity under construction in Italy. Sopna Sury, chief executive of RWE Renewables Europe & Australia, linked the Serra Palino commissioning to that programme, which follows the company’s October 2025 construction start at the site. The remaining projects have their own installation and grid connection programmes before they can contribute to operating capacity.
At Serra Palino, electricity generated across eight separate turbine sites is collected through the electrical infrastructure set out in the authorised design. This arrangement couples the turbine equipment to a higher-voltage network interface, allowing production from the wind farm to be exported instead of used solely at the individual turbine positions. Connection capacity, protection settings, and the performance of the export equipment consequently form part of the plant’s operational requirements alongside the turbines themselves.
Serra Palino now contributes 47.2MW to RWE’s approximately 670MW operating renewable portfolio in Italy. The company is also constructing roughly 200MW of further wind and solar capacity, while the separate Venusia wind farm remains on its own development timetable. The latest commissioning adds generation in Apulia and leaves those subsequent projects to complete their construction, electrical connection, and operational handover stages.
