The 2024-2023 Plan of Italgas focuses on Greeceallocating investment for 1 billion in investments over seven years. A program of activities that the subsidiary Enaona company created this year to bring together all Italgas’ Greek activities under a single brand, will develop along four directions main, to support the process ecological transition in progress.
“This Plan makes one billion euros available to Greece and outlines the development path of the country’s energy infrastructure,” commented the CEO Paolo Galloexplaining that this path “passes from the ability to continue to enhance local know-how, using the experience gained in Italy to reduce the application times of cutting-edge technologies and the development of the network”. “The contribution of Aenaon to the development of the country – added the manager – is concrete and visible: actively promote an ecological transition which, regardless of ideologies, guarantees safety, sustainability and cost competitiveness for families and businesses”.
The 4 areas of investment
The Plan, consistently with the growth trajectory of the Group, is developed along four main lines:
- there methanization of the territories not yet reached by the gas distribution service and the phase out of polluting fuels such as lignite and coal;
- there digital transformation of the networkincluding the replacement of traditional smart meters with “H2 ready” technology;
- the development of renewable gasesbiomethane and green hydrogen first and foremost, to strengthen the contribution to the decarbonisation of consumption;
- The repurposing of the existing network to make energy infrastructure more flexible, ready for a more sustainable energy future.
A large portion goes to network development
The Plan allocates 650 million euros to the realization of over 3,000 kilometers of new networkfunctional to bringing the service to areas not yet reached. This development will make it possible to power another 18 cities with a new energy source (including Patra, Ioannina, Kastoria, Florina, Grevena, Orestiada) and expand the customer base served by Enaon from the current 615,000 to 920,000 in 2030. As part of the development of the network, the application of the distribution system based on cryogenic depots of LNGwhich is particularly effective for remote areas not reached by large methane transport backbones, thus allowing energy isolation to be overcome. There will be 9 LNG depots made in the first part of Piano.
Forward with digitalization
In 2025, 100% of assets will be digitalised and in 2026 the DANA proprietary software (Digital Advanced Network Automation) for the automated management and remote control of networks and systems. The digital transformation path also includes replacement of current traditional meters with Nimbusthe “H2 ready” smart meter, which guarantees the best performance in terms of remote management and remote reading, capable of managing mixtures of natural and renewable gas. Its installation will begin as early as 2025 and will affect approximately 570,000 meters. It already is consolidated also in Greece the employment of Picarro for the scheduled search of gas dispersions: the most cutting-edge technology globally in preventive network monitoring will allow 200% of the network to be inspected starting from 2025, after having reached 150% already in 2024.
A system ready for the carriers of the future
Significant it is the commitment for the development of production of renewable gases. A smart, digital and flexible network is the key prerequisite for distribution biomethane and hydrogenalso in blending with natural gas. This is why, in addition to working on the digital development of the infrastructure, Enaon is engaged in a screening of the country’s main biogas plants to promote their upgrade to biomethane and for connection to the distribution network. On the hydrogen front, however, an assessment is already underway on the entire distribution network to evaluate its compatibility and develop the interventions necessary for the further evolution of the infrastructure.
