On Thursday 24 May 2024, Fondazione Caritro hosted the panel entitled “ALLA RICERCA DELL’EQUILIBRIO TRA ECONOMIA, ENERGIA ED AMBIENTE [The Pursuit of balance among economy, energy and environment]” moderated by Silvia Di Rosa, President of the Engineers Association of Trento Province.
Speakers:
- Massimo Beccarello, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
- Dina Lanzi, Head Of Technology Development Snam Decarbonization Projects
- Emanuele Martinolli, Operational Manager of the “Codes and calculation methods” Department at FRAMATOME
- Luigi Crema, President of Hydrogen Europe Research and Director of the Center for Sustainable Energy of Fondazione Bruno Kessler – FBK
In the introductory speech, Silvia di Rosa outlined of the energy global situation underlining that “There is not a General Manager of mankind, every country should do its part in compliance with rules. The production of energy is still the main responsible of greenhouse gases, this is the reason why the panel focuses on energy topic. We need to remember that there are no single solutions, we need to think of a paradigm of combined solutions. Energy transition comes with a cost, and there is a delicate balance among society, territory and envirnment“.
Massimo Beccarello gave the audience an overview of energy economic framework in Italy and in the world, and outlined the trends of the renewable sources in the EU with a focus on the future.
Beccarello underlined that the become independent in the field of energy is a challenge for the EU considering that the vast majority of raw materials comes from China and Asia. There is the need for an EU strategy to develop the industrial production capacity.
Dina Lanzi offered an techno-economic assessment of the European energy market and defined the potential new alternatives that can support us in the energy transition and in reaching the zero-emissions target within 2050. Technologies that helps reaching the decarbonisation are numerous with different development perspectives, and can be divided in two main categories: (i) technologies with the objective of producing without CO2 emission, and (ii) technologies that capture the CO2. Not all the sectors are good for both technologies and depending on the sector where these technologies are located, there are different cost perspectives. Dina Lanzi underlined that there is not a single solution but there are numerous variables to be taken into consideration, and policies play an important role.
Emanuele Martinolli gave an European and global overview of the nuclear energy before stepping in its role in the energy transition. Globally, nuclear is the second electricity source with low CO2 emission following hydroelectric. There are 400 reactors in the world and in Europe there are 150, where almost all countries have nuclear reactors. France is strongly contributing to Green Deal objectives as this country thanks to the nuclear production.
Luigi Crema was asked to explain the role of hydrogen in the energy transition and the necessary actions from the industrial supply chain to support the transition. Luigi outlined how hydrogen has become a global phenomena creating a “H2 geopolitic”. 75 million of hydrogen are currently used each year in the world and it mainly comes from fossil fuels. Hydrogen is a energy vector easy to be transported and can create energy. There is a strong industry of hydrogen in Europe and it represent a entire supply chain. The EU considers H2 a strategic industrial asset and aims at entering in a global situation where there are huge projects going on to create hydrogen, base on renewable energy. Two approaches are being used by the EU to strengthen the hydrogen production: (i) top-down through policies, incentives and realisation of infrastructure, and (ii) bottom-up through the creation of projects from small to large such as hydrogen valley. There is the need to combine three assets to develop this sector: competitiveness, industrialisation and market creation.
Locally, the Autonomous Province of Trento is going in this direction through the creation of the new Center for Sustainable Energy in Rovereto on a relevant scale, where FBK will validate technologies for the industrial sector. This is combined with the support of Trentino Sviluppo to realise a local industrial ecosystem, where lots of companies have already started to locate assets. An example is UFI Group, with the realisation of UFI Hydrogen that will create a manufacturing site which is promising in the field of electrolysers. There are also other companies such as SolydEra and Tormene.
Watch the panel in streaming (Italian): https://www.festivaleconomia.it/it/evento/alla-ricerca-dellequilibrio-tra-economia-energia-ed-ambiente
More information: https://www.festivaleconomia.it/it