Energy Landscapes. Palimpsest, Process an Scale

The essay addresses the issue of transforming existing photovoltaic (PV) parks that have reached, or are approaching, their end-of-life. This is a phenomenon poised to become substantial, widespread, and extensive throughout Italy for a variety of reasons, though primarily due to the expiration of the various incentive schemes that supported the widespread installation of small and medium-sized ground-mounted PV parks between 2010 and 2020. Within this framework, the interplay between national and local regulations and the European programmes aimed at achieving decarbonisation introduces a broad range of variables and uncertainties. The hypothesis put forward is that this new challenge — the transformation of PV parks at or nearing their EoL— also engages architectural and landscape design at various scales, along with their conceptual and operational tools. Specifically, the contribution examins which conceptual categories and operational tools landscape architecture can effectively deploy within the processes that involve either revamping (aimed at the technological upgrading of the plant) or total decommissioning (aimed at reconfiguring the sites of former installations following their dismantling). The research is based on the concept of a new energy landscape, for which there is a wealth of detailed literature. Similarly to other major infrastructural transformations (e.g. irrigation canal networks, land reclamation, hydropower systems in some Alpine districts, energy transport networks, roads and highways), the concept is that it is possible and necessary to promote a profound cultural change that views infrastructures for energy production as works that contribute to the development of a territory. This approach involves the concrete implementation of functional and meaningful relationships between the elements and systems of the inhabited world and between nature and artifice, taking into account specific economic, technological and cultural conditions. This delimitation of the research field raises several general issues of great complexity. These are currently held in abeyance but the research aims to contribute to a hypothetical response, based on the conviction that the processes surrounding solar photovoltaics involve a multiplicity of objectives, actors, techniques, and necessary and possible actions that must be addressed with an integrated approach. The objective is to promote a profound cultural shift in the conventional way the topic is addressed. This shift is based on several premises. 1. The transition towards energy production from renewable sources is a shared goal at various levels, from local to global. 2. To be effective, renewable energy production facilities must be exposed to their energy sources (sun, wind, water). Consequently, by their very nature, they radically alter the configuration of the territories on which they are located, not only with regard to morpho-spatial and eco-systemic aspects, but also cultural aspects related to shared representations and the narratives connected to them. 3. Moving beyond the conventional performance-based approach, which regards them exclusively as technological facilities, the research proposes to consider renewable energy production facilities as new landscapes, which can be defined as energy landscapes. 4. The transition from the idea of a facility to that of an energy landscape is based on a concept of landscape as a complex and continuously changing entity, the result of stratified transformations. These are caused both by human intervention for the exploitation of natural resources and by natural processes that modify places within a complex system of reciprocal relationships, according to the cyclic rhythm of the seasons and the linear progression of biological processes involving the various life forms that inhabit them. 5. This 'processual' vision is embodied in an approach to the topic that considers the entire life cycle of the facilities. This includes planning, various levels of design (including permitting processes), construction, the management of the technological devices and the site as a whole (which includes routine maintenance and revamping interventions), and finally, the management of their 'end-of-life', which is specifically addressed in the research published in the volume.