Italy’s Snam has announced the launch of two initiatives to support the country’s energy transition. The first is a market test for hydrogen demand, while the second is a collection of expressions of interest for carbon dioxide (CO2) transport and storage.
The gas grid operator will carry out market testing in cooperation with the Italian employers’ lobby, Confindustria, to identify and explore two strategic markets related to manufacturing and energy-intensive sectors.
The hydrogen market test and collection of expressions of interest for CO2 transport and storage will be presented through a webinar on February 7th and will end on April 5th. The results will be shared in aggregate form by the third quarter of 2024.
“In the current energy scenario, security and energy transition are two sides of the same coin. Snam, besides ensuring continuous energy supplies, is committed to developing an infrastructure system ensuring the transportation of decarbonized molecules in Italy and Europe,” said Piero Ercoli, Executive Director of Decarbonization at Snam. “With the launch of the dedicated hydrogen market test and the collection of expressions of interest for the Ravenna CCS project, we aim to confirm Snam’s key role in facilitating the achievement of Italy’s decarbonization goals, taking into account the characteristics of its industrial fabric.”.
According to Reuters, a study by think-tank The European House, Ambrosetti, and the two groups estimates that the Eni-Snam CCS hub will be able to store around 300 million metric tons of CO2 by 2050, supporting industrial sectors that together generate 62.5 billion euros ($67.21 billion) of value added with about 1.27 million jobs in Italy.
“The extraordinary events that have unfolded in recent years have forcefully highlighted the issues of strategic independence and national and European energy security, making it essential to adopt new solutions capable of reconciling environmental sustainability objectives with those of industrial policy and socio-economic stability,” said Raffaele Langella, Director General of Confindustria, adding, “The response to these needs for our country also involves building an energy mix based on the complementarity of various technological solutions, including renewable hydrogen and CCS. We are confident that this initiative will facilitate the path of energy transition by leveraging investments in research, simultaneously achieving three different objectives: decarbonization, competitiveness, and supply chain security,” he added.
Notably, the hydrogen market test aims to gather technical and economic data to assess the current and future state of hydrogen consumption and production as an energy vector and raw material. This information will also help evaluate the market’s alignment with national and European targets.
While the collection of expressions of interest for the transport and storage of CO2 is designed to inform stakeholders about the Ravenna CCS project jointly developed by Eni and Snam, It involves gathering basic data from interested emitters and, in a non-binding manner, their interest in this decarbonization solution.
