Bologna, San Donato Milanese (MI) — Snam and Hera announce the signing of a letter of intent for a technological collaboration aimed at the development of hydrogen, each for their own areas of activity.
The goal is the experimentation and subsequent implementation of a series of solutions capable of responding to the decarbonization needs of the Emilia-Romagna area across the board, from production to mobility and individual citizens.
The agreement will also help to boost the development of renewable energy in Italy, in line with the guidelines set out by the European Union.
The agreement provides for various areas of action, starting with collaboration on power-to-gas technology. In particular, at the Bologna Corticella multi-utility purification plant, an innovative plant is at an advanced stage of design that will make it possible to transform the excess of renewable electricity into “green” hydrogen to be fed into the networks, using the purified water and returning to the process water purification, oxygen, biogas and sludge and thus obtaining a “symbiosis” of mutual advantage between the two plants, with a further environmental benefit. Still in the industrial field, the two companies will study the application of hydrogen for thermal uses in the most energy-intensive sectors and with processes that are difficult to electrify.
Among the other options under consideration is the construction of plants to extract green hydrogen from water, using the renewable energy generated by the Hera Group waste-to-energy plants, with the aim of contributing to the decarbonisation of industrial sectors such as the production of fertilizers. and fuels. Finally, the letter of intent provides for a possible joint experimentation of injecting a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen into a portion of Hera’s distribution network in Emilia-Romagna, similar to what Snam has already done on its transmission network. The protagonist of this experimentation will be the Modena gas network.
“The agreement with Hera – comments Snam CEO Marco Alverà – is part of the collaborations we are starting with energy and industrial companies to develop hydrogen-related technologies and implement projects in the various areas of the Italian territory. Hydrogen will be a decisive element, together with electricity from renewable sources, to allow Europe to become the first continent with zero net emissions in 2050. Snam intends to contribute to this process by making its infrastructure available, together with its own skills and capacity for innovation, to create a national hydrogen supply chain capable of accelerating the decarbonisation process and creating new opportunities for development and employment ”.
“With this alliance we want to make a concrete contribution to the development of the hydrogen option to pursue the carbon neutrality of the territories, in line with the commitment to sustainable development that has always guided our actions – says Stefano Venier, CEO of the Hera Group – . The signing of this protocol is part of the strategy drawn up by our Industrial Plan to 2024, which provides for numerous actions and investments for the energy transition and environmental protection in line with European strategies and the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda. Green gases , which include hydrogen, are a particularly interesting frontier for us precisely because we operate in several businesses: by making our cross-sector expertise and our wide infrastructure platform available, we can create innovative examples of carbon neutral circularity between supply chains “.
The agreement will eventually be the subject of subsequent binding agreements that the parties will define in compliance with the applicable regulatory profiles.
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