Snam and Hera have signed a letter of intent for a technological collaboration aimed at developing hydrogen, for their own areas of activity respectively.

The aim is to test and subsequently implement a number of solutions able to respond to the decarbonization needs of the Emilia-Romagna region in a cross-cutting manner, from production to mobility to individual citizens.

This agreement will also contribute to promote the development of renewable energies in Italy, in line with the guidelines set out by the European Union.

The accord involves several areas of action, starting from the collaboration on power-to-gas technology. Specifically, an innovative plant is at an advanced stage of design at the Bologna Corticella multi-utility treatment plant, which will transform excess renewable electricity into green hydrogen to be injected into the networks by exploiting purified water and returning oxygen, biogas and sludge to the water purification process, thus obtaining a mutually beneficial "symbiosis" between the two plants, with an additional environmental benefit. In the industrial field, the two companies will also study the application of hydrogen for thermal uses in the most energy-intensive sectors and with processes that are difficult to electrify.

Other options under study include the creation of plants to extract green hydrogen from water, using the renewable energy generated by the Hera Group’s waste-to-energy plants, with the aim of contributing to the decarbonization of industrial sectors such as the production of fertilizers and fuels.

The letter of intent provides for a possible joint experimentation of injecting a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen into a portion of Hera’s distribution network in Emilia-Romagna, similar to what Snam has already done on its own transmission network. At the heart of this experimentation is the gas network of Modena.