Although not renowned for its close relationship with technology, Vatican has shocked the world by announcing its intent of building the largest solar plant in Europe, for $660 million (500 million euros), Bloomberg reports.

This installation will provide enough energy to make Vatican the first solar-powered nation in the world, which is not such an impossible mission, given the fact that Vatican remains the world's smallest state.

The plant will contain an impressive 100 megawatt photovoltaic installation and will most likely be built on 740 acres of terrain near the medieval village of Santa Maria di Galeria. The station is said to be able to supply about 40,000 households, greatly exceeding the needs of the 900 inhabitants of the papal state, so Vatican is ready to sell all that energy to Italy, helping the fight against global warmth.

Of course, there were concerns whether the Vatican should invest such a huge sum in alternative energy solutions, given the economic recession. “Now is the time to strike,” Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican City’s governor, declared in a recent interview. “One should take advantage of the crisis to try and develop these renewable-energy sources to the maximum, which in the long run will reap incomparable rewards.”

And this is only the beginning of the going-green process that has taken over Vatican. The company that is behind the solar plant, Solarwood, a solar panel manufacturer from Germany, brought into the limelight the idea of an electric Pope mobile, instead of the white Mercedes he uses. Also, the Vatican cafeteria will be decked this summer with a solar-heating system that will provide air-conditioning for the entire building. Furthermore, The Pope's summer residence, the Castel Gandolfo, may also be part of a project meant to get energy from methane generated by horse stables.

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