Kmetroverde: this is the name chosen for a circular economy investment in Borgo Cervaro in the Foggia area. The largest technological and circular economy hub in Southern Italy will be built on 20 hectares of land already owned by the State Railways. A bet? A bit yes, because the Energy Systems spa which is building it, intends to give Puglia the primacy of the most advanced production and technological hub in the country. With approx 7 million euro taken in part from the Integrated Plan of Benefits of the Puglia Region, work is being done on the realization of a very advanced project. Renewable energies, hydrogen, wind turbines and other green applications that the Company will develop by increasing working capacity and employment. The first characteristics that emerge from the challenge launched about ten kilometers from Foggia in the heart of the ancient Tavoliere are research and innovation. The project will go ahead together with the Italian universities to reward technological excellence. The second feature - which is the reflection of the first - is the work of young graduates. They will be the ones to make life in the new industrial center come alive.
The technological pole guarantees development
In a shed there is a prototype of a biomethane plant; in another, green hydrogen will be produced from photovoltaic plants. Applications that Italy badly needs in order not to be forced to importand technologies from abroad. The logic of the Apulian pole, according to the patron of Energy Systems Marcello Salvatori is that of Industry 4.0. In this regard, work is also being done to transform the industrial area into the Zes area. A tax exemption for future development. With a view to exports and an integrated transport system, the pole should be connected to the port of Manfedonia. The idea is to make one intermodal network for the transit of products. “We also hope to attract further investment,” he explains Marcellus Salvatori. “Currently we have already started the planning process on the first 20 square meters of warehouses, but there are another 30, for which we are also open to potential future collaborations or to hand them over to those who make plans that are however consistent with the technological hub”. The hub will take shape in a time frame compatible with the restructuring of the former railway hub. In the perspective of arriving to 180 full-time employees,there are about seventy young people already employed full-time.
Collaboration with universities
Research into low-impact materials and sources is business. This is demonstrated here by a research project of the Dafne of the University of Foggia on the recovery of plastics and financed by the Spa. Not only that. A project for a biomethane production plant is also in the process of obtaining definitive authorisation. Arpa Puglia has already expressed a favorable opinion and the initiative is going ahead. The final utility will benefit an area where there are already 14 photovoltaic plants and 6 wind farms that should connect to an integrated system. Our company, the managers write, breaks away “from classic production model based on the concept of extracting-producing-using-disposing and uses the idea of the circular production system”. A piece of modernity in the largest and most historic plain of Southern Italy.
