Eni relies on decarbonised energy to power them

The latest move dates back to mid-July, when Eni signed a letter of intent with the Emiratines of Khazna Data Centers, a global leader in large-scale digital infrastructures, to launch a joint venture to develop an 'AI Data Centre Campus', a hub focused on artificial intelligence and with an overall IT (i.e. computing) capacity of 500 megawatts. The centre of gravity will be Ferrera Erbognone, in Lombardy, where the group led by Claudio Descalzi has built its Green Data Centre that houses the Hpc6, one of the most powerful supercomputers on the planet.

The project is part of the bilateral strategic partnership, which was launched at the end of February on the occasion of the state visit of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, and the summit with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and aims to reach a total IT capacity of up to 1 gigawatt in Italy. The initiative will allow Eni, as Descalzi himself reiterated last February during the update of the industrial plan, to develop a new business capable of exploiting the strategic advantage enjoyed by the group, which has a crucial combination to ensure the full development of the game: the advances in the field of high-performance computing infrastructures (so-called high performance computing), the availability of company-owned industrial sites for the construction of new data centres (Eni estimates, in this regard, the existence of around 200 hectares already suitable for this purpose, as well as the capacity and experience in the development and management of gas and renewable energy plants.

This last element is not insignificant considering the high energy consumption that data centres bring with them. It is no coincidence that, when presenting the group's project in February, Descalzi had explained to the financial community that Eni intended to combine energy generation, with CO2 capture and storage (CCS), with the implementation of these infrastructures. This would enable data centres, which are large energy users, to be powered by reliable 'blue' energy, thus ensuring the gradual decarbonisation of the supply chain in an integrated manner.

A model that has been fully implemented in the partnership with the Emiratines that will lead to the birth of the data centre campus: the infrastructure will therefore be powered by 'blue power' supplied by Eni, which will provide the hub with low-emission electricity produced by a new high-efficiency natural gas power plant, designed to capture CO2 emissions that will be channelled towards the Ravenna Ccs hub, where the group is working in tandem with Snam.