________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
specializes in the active development of renewable energy projects within Italy and also overseeing and coordinating such developments at an international level. The company operates physical offices in Italy, Vietnam, and Chile, as well as a handful of remote, virtual offices, and is currently present in seven countries: Italy, Sweden, the US, Colombia, Chile, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
“ We’ re gradually expanding in these markets, and our overall portfolio is around six gigawatts including projects currently in development and those under review,” Cristiano elaborates.“ I’ d explain our current position as‘ Limes 1.0’ and we’ re structuring the company for a new era as‘ Limes 1.5’ by doubling the headcount and preparing for the next round of fundraising. Where we previously focused on the development and sale of assets, such as the recent sale of a 300-megawatt portfolio to an international independent power producer( IPP), there’ s potential to move to a hybrid model where we keep a stake of each project and offer commercial asset management services or create a fully-fledged renewable energy IPP.”
Aside from Limes’ evolution and its impressive portfolio, we’ re keen to understand how Cristiano’ s experiences have shaped his approach and thoughts about global energy transition and renewable energies.“ Regulation, politics, and public awareness are changing constantly, including the maturity of what was once a very niche market,” he states.“ Climate crisis and energy transition is now an established movement, and one that I believe is unstoppable; it can be delayed, and many forces are currently trying to do so, but it’ s a process that cannot be stopped.”
While growth in renewable energy was mainly driven by big players in the utilities sector in its early days, independent power producers took over. With no existing or legacy assets, IPPs can focus exclusively on renewable energy generation, changing perceptions on who controls renewable projects.
“ Although people have realized the significant role renewables will play in energy transition, the investment space remains conflicted,” Cristiano shares.“ While the sector has matured and attracted significant funding in recent years, this is now under attack, causing further delays. Triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, when the economy became a top priority, mainstream thinking shifted towards short termism in several sectors, with more people focused on the short-term impact rather than having a longer-term vision.
“ Also, the pandemic caused an attack on science; with people relying on cultural and political thought rather than scientific facts, many scientific concepts, including environmental science, are increasingly diminished. However, despite these challenges, the train has already left the station, as it were, and although development can be slowed as it’ s increasingly challenged, global energy transition will continue regardless.”
With these challenges in mind, we’ re keen to understand how Cristiano remains optimistic.“ The most important quality for anyone working in the renewable energy concept is resilience,” he states.“ It can take years to develop a project, especially in countries like Italy where the process is more
The most important quality for anyone working in the renewable energy concept is resilience, It can take years to develop a project, especially in countries like Italy where the process is more cumbersome and bureaucratic
10