Former Ilva, draft plan: target 8 million tonnes. Tomorrow expected to be the OK for the regasifier ship

"In order to guarantee the operational continuity of all the Acciaierie d'Italia Group's production sites, protect employment levels, and meet the needs of the domestic and European markets, it is necessary to guarantee a production of up to 8 million tonnes of steel per year," the government's draft decarbonisation plan reads. This is what is stated in the draft Decarbonisation Plan sent by the government to the trade unions shortly before the meeting convened at Mimit.

The plan envisages the construction of three electric furnaces at the Taranto site, with a total production capacity of 6 million tonnes per year, and an electric furnace at the Genoa site, with a capacity of around 2 million tonnes per year.

It is also planned to build up to four plants for the pre-drilling (dri) needed to feed the electric furnaces in Taranto and Genoa

What has opened is a potentially decisive week for the fate of the former Ilva. On Monday, 14 July, the government meets with the trade unions, and there is talk of lay-offs. Tuesday 15 the position of the local authorities involved on the possibility of locating a regasifier ship in Taranto is expected. Finally, on Thursday 17, the Ministry of the Environment will host the Services Conference. On that occasion, the programme agreement with the local authorities should get the go-ahead for the new AIA, Integrated Environmental Authorisation. The launch of a new tender for the former Ilva assets should also be included in this timetable. 'We will have to adapt the current tender to the new conditions immediately, as early as the end of July,' Adolfo Urso, Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, explained in an interview with Il Messaggero. 'That is why it is absolutely necessary for everything to be clear in the coming days. It is obvious that having in Taranto also the plants for the production of pre-drilled iron, Dri, is a strong element of attractiveness for investors'.

At the moment, there are two hypotheses of agreement on which reasoning is underway, starting from the common fixed point of accelerating decarbonisation from 12 to 8 or 7 years, depending on the options. The first envisages the construction in Taranto of three electric furnaces with three Dri (direct reduced iron, i.e. the plants to make the pre-reduced iron) and presupposes the positioning of a regasifier ship to supply the gas needed to feed them. The second hypothesis is that three electric furnaces will be built in Taranto, also powered by a service contract from the company Dri Italia, which will, however, build the pre-pipeline in another location in southern Italy where it will be easier to supply, at a better cost and convenience, the necessary gas. In both cases, the government has always ensured the continuity of production at the plant. On Thursday 17, it will then be the turn of the Services Conference that will have to approve the new Integrated Environmental Authorisation.