Ex Ilva, wind power to power the electric furnace

'A possible electric furnace at the former Ilva plant in Genoa Cornigliano could also be powered by renewable sources, in particular wind power'. So says Alessandro Migliorini, country manager Italy of European energy, a Danish company specialising in the construction of renewable energy parks, with several projects underway in our country, both in the field of wind capture and agri-voltaics.

In Liguria, moreover, emphasises the manager, 'there is good potential for wind power. We have carried out a study according to which there are 14 high-wind sites in the region where it would be possible to build such plants, and all of them are outside the Sitap areas (covered by landscape constraints, ed), the Natura 2000 network (sites of EU interest, ed), and risk zones included in the Pai (Hydrogeological Structure Plan, ed). The papable locations would be eight in the Genoa area, four in Savona and two in Imperia. One could start with 200 megawatts, on four or five sites, with an investment of around 300 million euro. But the problem, as is often the case in Italy, is approval times, bureaucracy, and the unwillingness of the territories to welcome the plants. Yet Liguria, according to the Mase decree of 21 June 2024, has been assigned the objective of developing 1,359 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. A goal from which it is a long way off'.

Recently, Migliorini continues, 'we proposed the construction of a wind farm in Ferriere, in Val d'Aveto (between Liguria and Emilia-Romagna), a very windy place with a low number of inhabitants. We went to talk to the mayor, saying that we could do a project. But immediately came the opposition from the area. Even in La Spezia, in the area of the former coal plant, green hydrogen could be produced. On agri-voltaics, then, we have several plans in Piedmont. Finally, there is the issue of ports, with the production of green fuels for ships. This is a sector in which the Nordic countries and Spain are moving forward (in Denmark, European energy inaugurated the first plant for the production of renewable hydrogen in 2024, which will supply the port of Esbjerg, ed.

The problems, says Migliorini, are always the same: 'The territory that opposes the works and the need to speed up regulations. After all, on the decrees supporting renewables, the government itself is today a little bit niched. With the fact that, in the Trump era, we have to buy liquefied gas from the United States, instead of investing money on green technologies we use it to make these purchases. If, then, instead of allocating billions in the decrees for bonuses on consumers' bills, which serve to compensate for the much higher price of gas, we used those funds to make energy at home, perhaps we would save in the end'.

Finally, with regard to the possibility, mooted by the Minister for Enterprise, Adolfo Urso, of building an electric furnace for the former Ilva steelworks in Genoa, Migliorni says that 'certainly a project could be made to be linked to the energy demand of the possible electric furnace. You could build wind farms, making a ppa (power purchase agreement) to supply clean energy; an agreement, in short, with the municipality, or with the company that will then manage the furnace. But you have to sit down at a table, decide and unblock the authorisations in one year, not seven. The problem is always the same'.