ROME (AP) — Italy agreed Thursday to a Vatican plan to turn a 1,000-acre field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm that the Holy See hopes will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world’s first carbon-neutral state.

The agreement stipulates that the development of the Santa Maria Galeria site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimize the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement.

Details weren’t released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels, but won’t benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar. Italy, for its part, can use the field in its accounting for reaching European Union clean energy targets. Any excess electricity generated by the farm beyond the Vatican’s needs would be given to the local community, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not public.

Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under $114 million to develop the solar farm, and that once it is approved by the Italian parliament, the contracts to do the work could be put up for bids.

Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the agreement with Italy’s ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto. The Italian parliament must approve the arrangement since it has financial implications for the territory, which holds extraterritorial status in Italy.

The Santa Maria Galeria site has long been the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers located there since the 1950s. The once-rural site some 20 miles north of Rome is dominated by two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae that transmit news from the Catholic Church in dozens of languages around the globe.

Over the years as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukemia which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link but cut back the transmissions.

Pope Francis last year asked the Vatican to study developing the area into a vast solar farm, hoping to put into practice his preaching about the need to transition away from fossil fuels and find clean, carbon-neutral energy sources.