The Vatican is set to invest approximately €100 million (£85 million / $117 million) in a major renewable energy facility as part of plans to become the world’s first carbon-neutral microstate.
Sources familiar with the project confirmed to Reuters that the proposed agrivoltaic plant will have an estimated capacity of 80 to 90 megawatts, generating enough electricity to power the entire Holy See within two years.
The initiative represents a concrete step forward in fulfilling the late Pope Francis’s vision to transition the Vatican to 100 per cent clean energy. His successor, Pope Leo XIV, has continued pushing the project through necessary bureaucratic and legal stages, establishing a dedicated foundation and securing bilateral agreements with Italian authorities.
The agrivoltaic system—which raises solar panels several metres above the ground to allow simultaneous farming underneath—will cover roughly 200 hectares of the Vatican-owned Santa Maria di Galeria estate on the outskirts of Rome.
Because Vatican City itself spans just 109 acres (44 hectares), the plant must be located on the 1,100-acre extraterritorial property, which has housed Vatican Radio’s transmission facilities since the 1950s.
In addition to meeting the electricity demands of Vatican City and Vatican Radio, the facility is expected to supply clean energy to Holy See-linked institutions in Rome, including the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital. Any surplus power generated will be fed directly into Italy's national grid.
The scale of the project vastly eclipses the Vatican’s current solar capacity—a 2,400-panel roof installation on the Paul VI Audience Hall donated in 2008, which produces around 300 megawatt-hours annually.
The Catholic Church’s climate stance, rooted in Pope Francis’s landmark 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, frames care for the environment as a fundamental moral duty. Pope Leo XIV has strongly reaffirmed that commitment, warning at a UN climate summit that God’s creation is "crying out" for urgent action.
Construction of the agrivoltaic plant, including administrative and permitting procedures, is expected to take between 18 and 24 months, with contracts going out to tender in the coming weeks.
Additional reporting by Fortune via Reuters Connect
