By Adriano Marchese

Canadian Solar's energy-storage arm has signed a deal with Swiss energy company Axpo to build a battery storage system in southern Italy to help ease strain on one of the country's most congested power networks.

The Kitchener, Ontario-based, Nasdaq-listed company said that e-Storage will provide an Axpo subsidiary with 8 megawatt, 40 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system in the country's southern region of Calabria.

The contract marks the company's first project in the country and a further step in its expansion across Europe, Canadian Solar said Tuesday.

Construction at Axpo's Rizziconi combined-cycle gas power plant is expected to begin at the end of the year, while connection to the broader grid and commercialization is expected in early 2028.

The battery cells and pack systems are developed and manufactured at Canadian Solar's own production facilities, which it said will provide customers with better supply chain visibility.

Energy in regions such as southern Italy are rich in solar energy but often exceeds what networks can absorb during the sunniest part of the day. Canadian Solar said that the Rizziconi project is a response to this particular condition in Italy's south.

For Calabria, the new system is expected to capture solar energy that would otherwise be wasted during peak midday hours and returned to the grid when needed, helping to offset traditionally higher power costs and weaker grid connectivity that the northern part of the country typically benefits from.

"This will ease the pressure on a constrained network and help lower the cost of electricity for a region of Italy that has long depended on distant supplies of energy from the north and elsewhere," the company said.

No financial details of the contract were disclosed.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2026 07:39 ET (11:39 GMT)

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