Hera has started construction work on Hlab, the group's laboratory where applied research on renewable energy will be carried out and which will be completed by 2012. This is the first initiative of its kind developed by an Italian multi-utility.
The research will concern the production and use technologies that will be deemed of interest over time. The works will be divided into two sections: one for photovoltaics and the other for hydrogen. The main objective will be to implement the energy efficiency of the various systems installed, verifying how they evolve over time and the effects and influence that some environmental factors may have on them. In this way it will be possible to study various market solutions in detail, trying to prepare ever more efficient technologies. For example, it will be possible to consider the convenience determined by the recovery of thermal energy in photovoltaic applications. As far as the use of hydrogen is concerned, HLab will be one of the very few structures in Italy to host a complete supply chain consisting of production from renewable sources (photovoltaic), storage at different pressures and final cogeneration use using fuel cells.
“The Hera Group will invest approximately one million euro for the construction of the civil works and for the initial plant equipment of HLab”, explains Maurizio Chiarini, Hera's Chief Executive Officer. “This demonstrates the great strategic value that we give to research in the field of renewable energies, a field in which we are at the forefront among other Italian multi-utility companies. Increasingly increasing the production of clean and renewable energy, starting from the resources that the territory makes available, we believe is a fundamental mission for those who, like Hera, have always worked with a view to sustainability, seeking with their services to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the communities in which it operates".
