The goal is to activate the plants in 2022: the generation of green hydrogen within the two refineries will be powered by renewable energy
Hydrogen distribution (photo: Dirk Vorderstraße / Flickr (CC BY 2.0) ) Enel and Eni enter into a collaboration agreement for the development of pilot projects for green hydrogen in two refineries of the Eni group. This was announced by the two energy companies in a joint press release, in which it is also specified that the two projects under study foresee the use of electrolysers of about 10 Megawatts capable of starting to produce hydrogen as early as 2022-2023.In a general perspective of gradual reduction of the use of fossil energies, moreover, the electrolysers used in the green hydrogen generation process inside the two refineries will be powered mainly by renewable energies. In this way, in the sites identified to start the projects, the intention is to "see green hydrogen supply Eni's refinery and biorefinery processes", as underlined by Enel's CEO and General Manager, Francesco Starace .
With this agreement, Enel aims to increase its green hydrogen production to over 2 Gigawatts by 2030, with new projects also in other countries. Again on the clean energy front, through the subsidiary Enel Green Power, the group already develops plants for the production and storage of energy from renewable sources all over the world, with over 1,200 plants in more than 28 countries , while with Enel X it is active in the world of electric mobility, with a network of over 140,000 public and private charging points around the world.
For its part, Eni sees this collaboration as a further possibility to work towards a significant reduction in direct CO 2 emissions and accelerate the production of biofuels and less polluting alternatives for its customers.
From this point of view, the commitment to hydrogen is part of the broader framework of the commitments that Eni has signed in its plan to 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality and over 55 Gw of installed capacity from renewable sources . In the report on investments for the energy transition in 2019, the group reported investments of over 194 million euros, of which 33 million for emission reduction projects, 24 million for renewable sources, 14 million for green chemicals and another 14 million for the exploitation of gas.