Eni joins hydrogen research initiative
SUMMARY
Partners to the Italian initiative said the biggest challenge for hydrogen is economic sustainability.
By Gas PathwaysPOSTED IN:
Italian energy company Eni said November 30 it was now part of a multi-party research effort looking at green hydrogen production, transportation and storage.
Eni unveiled the Hydrogen Joint Research Platform (Hydrogen JRP) alongside research entity Fondazione Politecnico di Milano and companies Edison and Snam.
Eni said the research platform will investigate green hydrogen production “associated transport solutions and advanced storage systems; innovative electrochemical and thermal applications for domestic and industrial use and in transport systems; and the development of best practices in the design and construction of hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure.”
The Italian energy company by early November had already teamed up with French services company Air Liquide to explore ways to build up the infrastructure needed to support hydrogen mobility in Italy.
Both sides said they would work on feasibility and sustainability studies that would support the development of the supply chain necessary to bring hydrogen as a fuel to the transport sector. The partners will also look for the best locations to install hydrogen refuelling stations across Italy.
On its research platform, Eni said the aim is to build up the hydrogen value chain across Italy. Companies are invited to join the collaborative and are encouraged to propose research topics for the future.
“Hydrogen is an energy vector critical in achieving our decarbonisation objectives in transport and ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors of industry,” said Giovanni Brianza, an executive vice president for the energy and environmental services market at Edison. “The biggest challenge today is to accelerate its development, so that it becomes economically sustainable, and also to give life to a new industrial chain, injecting impetus into the Italian economy, and confirming the value of our skills and expertise on the international stage.”
