Edison, Snam and the “hydrogen valleys”, all the details
The PNRR envisages the construction in Italy of ten hydrogen "valleys" in disused industrial areas. The role of Edison and Snam. Here are numbers and details of the projects
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mario Draghi participated in the signing ceremony of the first memoranda of understanding for the launch of the flagship projects of the PNRR (the National Recovery and Resilience Plan) with six regions: Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Piedmont, Umbria, Puglia and Basilicata.
THE HYDROGEN VALLEYS
The Italian PNRR is divided into six main thematic areas, defined as “missions”: one of these is the ecological transition, in line with the European objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions up to their net zeroing. On the Italia Domani site, the portal dedicated to PNRR, we talk about the creation of hydrogen valleys , or poles for the production of hydrogen, a fuel that does not release greenhouse gases and therefore can allow the decarbonization of those industries and transport impossible to electrify. These "valleys" will be built in abandoned industrial areas, in order to reduce land consumption and costs, since these areas are already connected to the electricity grid.
The total investment amounts to 450,000,000 euros.
WHAT ITALY WANTS TO DO WITH HYDROGEN
Hydrogen can be “blue” (ie obtained from natural gas, but capturing emissions through specific technologies) or “green” (obtained from electricity generated from renewable energy sources). Of the two varieties, Italy will focus on the second, the one that is more sustainable from an environmental point of view but also currently more expensive.
On Italia Domani it is in fact specified that the country expects to reach approximately 1 gigawatt of electrolysis capacity by 2026 (electrolysis is, in fact, the name of the process for obtaining hydrogen using renewable electricity) . And he plans to meet the goal through the construction of "a large industrial plant for the production of electrolysers", the electrochemical devices necessary for the electrolysis process: they allow the molecules of water (H2O) to be broken up, separating hydrogen (H2 ) from oxygen (O).
The companies that will build the electrolysers plant will have to be identified by June. The facility will be operational by mid-2026.
THE PROJECTS OF THE REGIONS
The electrolysers will be installed in the ten hydrogen valleys foreseen by the PNRR; the fuel will then be used in industry and transport. Public tenders for hydrogen production in brownfield sites will be awarded by March 2023.
Almost all the regions present at the ceremony on Wednesday – Umbria, Basilicata, Piedmont, Puglia and Friuli-Venezia Giulia – are planning to build hydrogen valleys . The known investment figures are those of Basilicata (300 million euros), Piedmont (130-150 million) and Puglia (1.4-2.3 billion).
Puglia also intends to focus on hydrogen through the construction of a center for the production, storage and use of fuel, with a more substantial investment (from 1.4 to 2.3 billion).
In Piedmont there are twenty-eight abandoned industrial sites that have applied for transformation into "valleys". The region – as Repubblica summarizes – seems to want to focus on the use of hydrogen in transport, for example to power heavy trucks.
Basilicata plans to reconvert the industrial areas of Tito or Galdo.
The hydrogen valley in Friuli-Venezia Giulia is a particularly large project, which involves two other countries of the Upper Adriatic, Slovenia and Croatia.
In Puglia, on the other hand, Edison and Snam intend to build a Green Hydrogen Valley, a center for the production, storage and use of fuel. Three 220 megawatt (MW) green hydrogen production plants will be built in Brindisi, Taranto and Cerignola; and the fuel obtained will be destined for industrial uses and possibly for mobility. Renewable electricity will be provided by 380 MW solar photovoltaic plants; Once fully operational, the plants will produce 300 million cubic meters of hydrogen per year.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/snam-edison-idrogeno-italia-pnrr/ on Thu, 09 Jun 2022 13:50:30 +0000.