“With Vivid I can attach an invoice and Vivid takes care of the payment directly, without my having to carry out any other operations.”
Massimo Bellucci, Owner & Technical Director, MB Trading
The field behind Massimo Bellucci measures roughly one kilometre by one kilometre: about 100 hectares of panels with a peak output of around 30 megawatts. In a year, a plant like this can produce some 45 million kilowatt-hours, enough to power a town of 2,000 people during the day.
Bellucci is the owner and technical director of MB Trading, which works on renewable energy installations, mostly photovoltaic. He has been in solar for more than twenty years. Today his company handles its payments through the financial platform Vivid.
A short step to the sun
Bellucci trained as a perito elettrotecnico, an electrical technician, so the step into renewables, and photovoltaics in particular, was a short one. It began more than twenty years ago, when solar was a known technology but not yet industrialised at scale, untested and very expensive. There was no single moment of decision, he says, rather an intuition that the time was ripe, at a point when the legislation for national incentives was taking shape.
“When I understood that it could be a turning point and also a business, because let’s not hide it, everything is a business, and in this case it is a green business, so sustainable and also morally ethical, I decided to go into it in depth.”
Massimo Bellucci, Owner & Technical Director, MB Trading
His first client came at the end of 2006 or the start of 2007: a ground-mounted installation. Customers were not yet comfortable with panels on the roofs of their homes. Over time the work moved to rooftops, which Bellucci prefers to large ground plants because they distribute energy production better.
From pebble to avalanche
The market began with the Conto Energia, Italy’s solar incentive scheme, which wound down within five or six years. At first, high costs bred mistrust among households and businesses, and lenders were reluctant to finance plants. The end of incentives discouraged some would-be producers, but it also brought prices down. Together with more flexible lenders and ESCOs, companies that finance a plant on the client’s behalf, it made photovoltaics accessible to everyone.
“Little by little the system took hold and became like the pebble that turns into an avalanche.”
Massimo Bellucci, Owner & Technical Director, MB Trading
Alto Lazio has seen a great many large ground-mounted plants. There is plenty of available land, some of it, regrettably, taken from agriculture, and strong grid capacity thanks to the former nuclear power station at Montalto, later converted to conventional fuel. Competition exists, Bellucci says, but the market is large enough for everyone to have a share without pushing prices down at the expense of quality.
Still here after fifteen years
Bellucci has worked in the sector for twenty years, earlier under a different company name. What sets it apart, he says, is price competitiveness built on two decades of market knowledge, and service. Many operators entered renewables and later disappeared commercially, leaving plant owners without anyone to monitor and maintain their installations.
“We are also replacing components on plants that are more than 10 to 12 years old, the so-called revamping, and that sets us apart, because we ourselves are replacing components we installed more than 15 years ago. It means we are on the market, we are still here, and our clients appreciate that.”
Massimo Bellucci, Owner & Technical Director, MB Trading
The panels themselves rarely fail. Over his career Bellucci has installed countless panels and seen very few broken by weather, hail included.
Power after sunset
A field like the one behind him cannot supply anyone at night. That is why storage has become part of the business in recent years. On home and business rooftops, close to 90% of new installations now include it; in large plants, the technology is still slightly behind.
“A few years ago they were embryonic, costly and still to be tested, but today they are an excellent way of storing electricity that lets us use it at night as well.”
Massimo Bellucci, Owner & Technical Director, MB Trading
At today’s market prices, a plant of 30 megawatts costs 20 to 25 million euros. Its owners are usually investment funds, energy companies and large utilities such as Enel and Edison. The energy is fed into the national grid, metered, and paid at the market price; plants above five megawatts connect to the grid of Terna, Italy’s transmission operator. Well maintained and with the right climate, such a plant pays for itself in about five years and lasts at least twenty.
Thirty transfers, no fees
Bellucci does not remember whether he found Vivid through a link he received or an online search. He was looking for an efficient online provider with contained costs and a substantial package of services.
At MB Trading, an administrative and financial manager looks after outgoing payments, and Bellucci, as the administrator, executes the orders. When an invoice comes in, he attaches it in the Vivid Business Account and Vivid makes the payment. The company makes around 30 transfers a month. A traditional bank charges on average 2 to 2.50 euros per transfer; with Vivid, MB Trading pays nothing.
“I am very happy with Vivid, because compared with a traditional bank, with around 30 to 40 operations a month, we make a significant saving by not paying for transactions on Vivid.”
Massimo Bellucci, Owner & Technical Director, MB Trading
The team also uses Vivid’s Cashback on fuel, restaurants and other business expenses. Bellucci has the app on his phone and uses it several times a day.
He is optimistic about the years ahead, not least because of revamping, the upgrading and renewal of plants built years ago. His advice to anyone starting out: a great deal of technical knowledge and theory, passion, sacrifice and some appetite for risk, because the sector needs financial leverage to buy equipment before installing it. The work is physically hard too. “With passion and professionalism,” he says, “you get good results.”
Note: This article reflects the individual experience of a Vivid customer and is provided for general information only. It is not legal, financial, investment or tax advice, and is not a guarantee of future results. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital, and the value of investments can go down as well as up. Product availability, rates and conditions depend on your plan and may change. Information is current as of October 2026. Please seek advice from a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
