In the presence of the President of the Council of Ministers, Giuseppe Conte, the Managing Directors of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Fabrizio Palermo, Fincantieri, Giuseppe Bono, Terna, Luigi Ferraris and Eni, Claudio Descalzi, signed an agreement today that lays the foundation for the establishment of a company for the development and construction of plants for the production of electrical energy from wave motion.
Thanks to this agreement, which follows the agreement signed last April 19, the collaboration between the companies enters a more operational phase that will allow the transformation of the pilot project Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter (ISWEC), the innovative production system of energy from wave motion, in a plant that can be built on an industrial scale and, therefore, of immediate application and use.
The partnership agreement will be developed in two phases: in the first phase, the business model will be developed, defining a real implementation plan in Italy. At the same time, the first industrial installation of ISWEC will be completed at the Eni Prezioso platform in the Sicilian Channel off the coast of Gela, with start-up scheduled for the second half of the 2020. The second phase will, instead, be dedicated on the one hand to the actual constitution of the company, and on the other hand to the consequent execution of the plan of realization and development of the activities, starting from the applications for the smaller islands in Italy and subsequently abroad .
Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi commented: "This agreement is part of our strategic decarbonisation plan and is based on Eni's vast experience in offshore activities and in the management of complex projects. Elements that made it possible to create and install the first industrial application of ISWEC in record time for the sector. The collaboration with three Italian excellences, such as CDP, Terna and Fincantieri, will make it possible to put together the great existing skills and to accelerate the process of industrialization of this technology, unlike what happened up to now for similar devices ".
CDP will contribute to the initiative taking care, in synergy with the partners, of relations with central institutions and local authorities and evaluating the economic and financial profiles and the most appropriate mechanisms for remunerating the energy produced. CDP CEO Fabrizio Palermo commented as follows: "This agreement, the result of collaboration between the companies in which the CDP Group has invested, aims to create an extremely innovative technology. It is a system capable of generating value for the territories and the community and is in line with our strategy, which aims to gradually direct the Group's activities and investments to support the energy transition and to combat climate change ".
Fincantieri will bring industrial and technical skills typical of naval projects for the industrialization and deployment of the first full scale industrial application. The CEO Giuseppe Bono said: "This large-scale industrial and technological cooperation, which sees us joined by groups of the caliber of Eni, Terna and CDP, opens a new frontier for the exploitation of clean energy in Italy, enhancing the morphology of the Country. Fincantieri is recognized as the highest authority in the maritime and naval field, and we are certain that, thanks to the synergies between the partners involved, this cutting-edge project will mark a turning point for the sustainable development of the country ".
Terna will bring its industrial and technical expertise in the field of electrical engineering for the industrialization and deployment of the first "full scale" industrial application and in the field of integration with the electricity grid. Terna SpA's Chief Executive Officer Luigi Ferraris explains: “The initiative launched with Eni, CDP and Fincantieri will make it possible to further systemize our experience and know-how in innovation, technology and research at the service of the energy transition. It is an important partnership that, through the use of new enabling factors, contributes to strengthening the primary and central role of our country in the increasingly decarbonized and sustainable European energy system ".
ISWEC is a very innovative system, characterized by a high complementarity that can overcome the constraints that have so far limited a widespread exploitation of wave energy conversion technologies. In fact, it is a hybrid smart grid system that is unique in the world, made up of photovoltaic and an energy storage system suitable both for supplying medium and large offshore assets and for supplying completely renewable electricity in non-interconnected locations. to the network, like the smaller islands, where the deployment plan is expected to concentrate.
The advantages for Italy are considerable as wave energy can be realized by exploiting the coastal development of the country, with a lower environmental impact than that of the other main terrestrial renewable sources already in use, and creating a national industry and an induced high technological development and added value.
The agreement will be the subject of subsequent binding contracts that the parties will define in compliance with the applicable regulatory profiles, including those relating to transactions between related parties and antitrust.