Green hydrogen: Saipem, the Italian global solution provider in the energy and infrastructure sectors, and Alboran Hydrogen, a company based in Florence and specialized in the production of hydrogen, on March 4 signed a memorandum of understanding for the joint development and the construction of five plants to produce green hydrogen through the electrolysis process, three of which in Italy and the other two in the Mediterranean basin, one in Albania and the other in Morocco.
The three plants in Italy will be all built in Apulia, in the Brindisi, Taranto and Foggia provinces. As a spokesperson from Saipem said to pv magazine, the authorization request for one of the plants has already been submitted and the others will follow soon. “We trust that Puglia [Apulia], having its own specific legislation on green hydrogen, will have an accelerated process and that the process can be completed by 2021”. For what concerns the plants in Albania and Morocco, the two companies have already identified the sites for the plants.
The two companies will take advantage of their respective and complementary skills, experience, and technologies: Saipem will be engaged with the engineering, procurement and construction of the plants, while Alboran Hydrogen will coordinate the technological aspects with the researchers involved, while also taking care of bureaucratic aspects and agreements with the research centers, universities and other entities part of the project.
The project will see the participation of the National Energy Technology District, La Sapienza University, the Salento University and the Brindisi Research Center (Cittadella della Ricerca di Brindisi). This initiative fits within the objectives set by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and those set by the National Strategy on Hydrogen. According to the latter, hydrogen will make up 2% of Italy’s final by 2030 and could reach up to 20% by 2050: a possible explanation for the growing interest in hydrogen shown by Italian companies.
Maurizio Coratella, COO of Saipem’s onshore E&C Division, commented: “The agreement with Alboran Hydrogen consolidates Saipem’s position as a leading player in the energy transition and decarbonization and is an important step ahead for the future development of green hydrogen in Italy and in the Mediterranean basin.”
Simone Pratesi, Chairman of Alboran Hydrogen and the Scientific Technical Committee coordinated by Prof. Livio de Santoli, Deputy Rector responsible for sustainability at La Sapienza University, wrote: “The agreement with Saipem will allow us to develop the potential of the project model proposed for Puglia, with the aim of exporting it to the world. We are proud to have focused for some time on the production of green hydrogen and we note with satisfaction that national and European policies are moving in the direction we have taken when similar issues were not yet addressed at the right level”.
