MILAN, Dec 16 (Reuters) - JP Morgan-backed renewable

energy company Sonnedix has secured contracts for 805 megawatts

of solar capacity in Italy under three government-sponsored

schemes, it said on Tuesday.

Considered easier to develop than wind projects due to the

Mediterranean country's geographical characteristics, solar

power is playing a central role in the energy transition in

Italy, which has emerged as one of Europe's leading producers of

the clean energy.

Sonnedix, which already has over 900 MW of capacity in

Italy, said the new contracts will expand its existing pipeline

of renewable projects and support its goal of supplying clean

electricity to industrial customers.

It won the bulk of the capacity - 670 MW across nine solar

sites - in the auction completed by Italy's energy services

agency in early December under an incentive scheme known as FER

X.

It also secured 125 MW under the so-called "Energy Release

Mechanism", which aims to give incentives for

high-energy-consuming companies to switch to renewable sources.

It won an additional 10 MW through a tender reserved for solar

projects built without equipment manufactured in China.

Italy awarded 7.7 gigawatts of solar capacity in total

through the FER X auction and an additional 1.1 GW in its first

tender for projects built without Chinese components.

Sonnedix currently operates renewable projects worth 12 GW

globally, with nearly 1 GW under construction and a development

pipeline exceeding 6.7 GW.