When Italy reopens it will also have to deal with its energy system. The proportions of the epidemic have been so transversal that the engine of the economy now requires detailed fine-tuning. Even before the government enters the field, we don't know how, it is legitimate to think that it will do so by reviewing the January green deal. In the meantime, a first move comes from Tuscany which is relaunching the battle for geothermal energy. An ancient battle for a clean source, against bureaucracy, authorizations granted and/or denied, opinions, prejudices Cinquestelle.
Nine mayors, so-called geothermal, sent a letter to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the President of Tuscany Enrico Rossi. From Pomarance, Castelnuovo di Val di Cecina, Montieri, Monterotondo Marittimo, Chiusdino, Radicondoli, Monteverdi Marittimo, Arcidosso, Santa Fiora, rapid emergency measures were requested to allow Enel to derogate from the normal procedures for awarding works, maintenance, contracts and supplies in the sector.
The moment is difficult everywhere, but a historic energy industry, rich in 20 million euros in royalties, integrated into the regional system concentrated in the provinces of Pisa, Siena and Grosseto, wants to restart immediately. Anticipating the government, leading the way against slow and paralyzing procedures. The production of electricity in Tuscany has not stopped in recent weeks. And the geothermal consortium is allocating an economic contribution to Lombardy for the health emergency. In view of the reopening, Enel, which manages the main plants in the area, must be put in a position to reactivate works and investments.
The local induced is ready, write the mayors, who are pushing for a quick agreement between the Government, the Region and the Municipalities of the area, to authorize the electricity company to derogate from its policies and not to prolong the suspension of collateral activities beyond. The committees against exploitation of the underground resource are always in action, but with little chance of success. Especially since the Mise have begun to evaluate the geothermal game with greater common sense with incentives in the expected Fer2.
La geothermal energy as an inexhaustible source, can still grow in the basket of Italian sources. Like the Snam plans on hydrogen, also in Tuscany the supporters of underground energy cultivate the idea of using now empty gas or oil wells. A perspective for conversion, according to the Greenreport Agency, to counteract oil fluctuations. Within the European project Meet (Multidisciplinary and multi-context demonstration of EGS exploration and Exploitation Techniques and potentials), the exploitation of wells in the oil and gas industry is evaluated, in order to reduce fixed costs, promoting the growth of primary energy in the area.
In the world there are hundreds of abandoned wells, technicians say, from which hot water can be taken for geothermal production. However, anyone who wants to go down this road must consider the structural quality of the chosen well, the depth and the suitability of the water. A bit like Eni did 40 years ago when drilling throughout Italy in search of underground wealth. Those wells can be brought back to life, even outside Tuscany, by resuming studies on Italian areas with geothermal potential.
In the midst of a critical energy transition, held back by the coronavirus, these are suggestive working hypotheses. They must cross commitment and political will to create new industrial value in Italy's most deficit sector. We must believe in it, abandon preconceptions and show strategic intelligence in those sectors where there are robust skills and experiences. The Tuscan model which, net of air pollution levels, takes about 30% of its energy from the earth's crust is therefore proposed as an example of an imitable circular economy. The letter from the mayors to Conte and Rossi, in the end, says just that.
