Snam and Sagat to hydrogenate Italy’s Torino Airport
It will be the first in Italy to implement such a solution.
Snam Group, through its subsidiary Renovit today (29th December), has signed an agreement with Sagat Spa (the Torino Airport Management Company) to construct a hydrogen-ready fuel cell system in cogeneration mode with a capacity of 1.2 MW at Torino Airport.
The fuel cell will be installed at Torino Airport in the second quarter of 2023. The value of the contract to be awarded will amount to about €14 million.
The fuel cell, designed and developed by Snam’s Hydrogen Business Unit in partnership with FuelCell Energy, is the first of its kind and size in Italy that can be fuelled with variable percentages of hydrogen blended with natural gas for the combined generation of electricity and heat.
The fuel cell system can produce around 1.2 MWh of electricity and 840 kWh of heat and can be fuelled by hydrogen mixed with up to 40% natural gas by volume. Compared to traditional cogeneration, the use of natural gas-fuelled fuel cells guarantees the substantial elimination of particulate emissions and a saving in CO2 emissions of 1,630 tonnes/year, equivalent to 1 million car journeys on the Turin city centre-airport route.
The cogeneration solution proposed by the Snam group was selected following a procedure launched by Sagat last April. It will allow Torino Airport to self-produce electricity, heat and cooling energy to partially cover its energy needs, currently equal to 17,000 MWh for electricity and 8,714 MWh for heat energy.
Marco Alvera, CEO of Snam, said, “With this agreement, we are providing Torino Airport with an effective and innovative energy solution that will immediately reduce emissions and integrate increasing amounts of hydrogen to achieve carbon neutrality”.
Andrea Andorno, CEO of Torino Airport, added, “This project will also enable us to anticipate our goal of zero emissions by 2050.”
Recently, the European gas Transmission System Operators (TSOs) Enagás (Spain), Snam (Italy) and GRTgaz (France), signed an agreement to set up shared initiatives aimed at supporting and exploring projects to accelerate the clean hydrogen market. The three TSOs contribute altogether through a €100 million investment in the Clean H2 Infra Fund managed by Hy24. As their first joint initiative, the three partners will respectively invest €33 million in the Clean H2 Infra Fund in their role of anchor investors, for a cumulated investment of around €100 million. Hy24 combines Ardian’s experience in infrastructure and asset management and FiveT’s Hydrogen know-how in the hydrogen value chain, along with the role and experience of the three TSOs in the management of energy networks and hydrogen technology.
