Region and government towards an agreement for energy and gas in Sardinia

Everything postponed to March. But the solution for energy and gas for manufacturing in Sardinia could come even sooner. Everything is linked to the issue of the 2022 energy decree issued by President Draghi. A measure against which the Region led by then-president Christian Solinas had appealed first to the TAR and then to the Council of State. The ruling scheduled for 21 November last year was postponed to 13 March 2025. An update requested and wanted by both the Region and the Government. The intention of the two parties is to reach an agreement with the preparation of a new Dpcm. It was President Alessandra Todde who announced the Region's decision to find common ground with the government in November, emphasising that both sides wanted to reach an agreement. Hence the work of diplomacy and institutional structures to outline a new course that paves the way for, among other things, the arrival of gas in Sardinia.

"Our objective," comments Industry councillor Emanuele Cani, "is to deal with the issue quickly in order to quickly guarantee measures to relaunch the industrial sector. The objective, they emphasise at the Region, is to "close the file quickly". Because an important investment plan concerning Sardinia is linked to the energy decree. First and foremost, that of gas. A measure to which several industrial plans are linked. One of the sectors currently struggling with high energy costs is the ceramics industry. Despite the presence of raw materials of good and excellent quality, companies are forced to reckon with excessively high costs precisely because there is still a lack of gas with which to produce thermal energy. It is no better in the metallurgy sector with companies needing steam to produce energy. In this case, one of the projects in the field with the highest investment value is the EUR 360 million Eurallumina project. The project envisages the restructuring and restarting of the refinery that transforms bauxite into alumina, the raw material from which primary aluminium is then made. The arrival of methane should then also affect the costs that other energy-intensive companies have to deal with. Welcoming the postponement of the ruling are the trade unions.

"This umpteenth postponement must bring a Dpcm that serves Sardinia in terms of energy infrastructure because we can no longer go any further," says Francesco Garau, regional secretary of Filctem Sardegna. "Time is an important variable, we cannot waste any more time and, above all, we must give answers to companies and workers. The unionist recalls that 'there is a need for methane to get all the projects off the ground'. "That Dpcm must put firm points both on how methane must be distributed," he adds, "and on how it must arrive, what tariffs must be applied to Sardinia. It must put a firm point on how the Sardinian electricity grid must be managed with regard to the presence of renewable energies and gas power plants'. Hence the invitation to the Region to 'convene the round table as soon as possible'.