Italgas has acquired a minority stake in the capital of Picarro Inc, a Californian technology start-up that produces sensors to monitor gas distribution networks. This was announced by the Italian company in a note, specifying that the operation cost a total of 15 million dollars, paid in cash, and involved the entry of Paolo Gallo, CEO of Italgas, into the Picarro board of directors.
“The presence in the shareholding structure of Picarro as the sole industrial partner (the other shareholders are the founders and venture capital funds), will allow Italgas to contribute to the further development of the technological solution for measuring fugitive methane emissions, now at the center of the European objectives for decarbonisation”, continues the note.
Emissions: target -30% by 20207
In detail, Italgas estimates to cut climate-changing emissions by 30% by 2027 "also thanks to the increasingly widespread use of Picarro technology - continues the note - which has already shown significant advantages in terms of speed of execution of monitoring, accuracy in the surveys and size of the areas subject to control".
The comment of the CEO of Italgas
“Technological innovation and digital transformation – commented Paolo Gallo, Italgas Chief Executive Officer – are the main enablers of our path of growth and decarbonisation of the economy. With this operation, we strengthen a strategic partnership which in recent years has allowed us to make the monitoring of our 74.000 km of networks in Italy more effective and efficient. With Picarro we will be able to support the decarbonisation process of our sector in an even more decisive way, through the measurement and, therefore, the reduction of climate-changing emissions, in line with the objectives set by the EU".
The Italgas share on the Stock Exchange
At the end of the morning, the Italgas share on the Stock Exchange left the field by one and a half percentage points, at 5,55 euro, in contrast with the Ftse Mib, which in the same minutes increased by 0,4%.
