Enel starting work on geothermal district heating project in Tuscany
Bagnore 3 plant, Tuscany, Italy (source: Enel Green Power)
Alexander Richter
15 Mar 2017
Enel Green Power is starting construction on a new geothermal district heating system for a small municipality in the region of Tuscany.
In the next few days Italian Enel Green Power will start construction work on a geothermal district heating system in Piancastagnaio, a small town southeast of Siena in Tuscany, Italy.
The system will be built in the industrial area of the municipality to provide heating to the companies located in “La Rota”.
The geothermal district heating network will help the companies o greatly reduce the cost for the use of heat as well as contribute to environmental sustainability. This opportunity adds to the possibility of having a discount of about 10% on the electricity bill with Enel Energia, the Enel Group company operating on the oppen electricity and gas market, thanks to the agreement signed between the Region of Tuscany and Enel presented earlier this year.
This activity is possible thanks to the collaboration between the ‘ Municipal Administration of Piancastagnaio and Enel Green Power with the aim of supporting the economic, social and environmental of the territory: the initiative, in fact, allow you to take advantage of geothermal energy is for space heating and for sanitary water at significantly lower prices compared to fossil fuels, and with a huge environmental benefit linked to the cancellation of the combustion of gas boilers and diesel emissions to present today.
The work should be completed by the fall of 2017. The investment of Enel Green Power for the project is about EUR 1.5 million. The district heating network of “La Rota” supplements the heat system already present in Pomarance, Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, Maritime Monterotondo, Montieri, Monteverdi Maritime, Radicondoli (under construction) and Santa Fiora.
It places Enel Green Power among the leading providers of heat from renewable sources in Italy where it currently provides 310 tCAL / year, with 80 heat transfer systems, 30 hectares of heated greenhouses and about 10 thousand domestic and commercial users.
“With this initiative, utilisation of geothermal energy is confirmed as a strategic element for the local economy, for Tuscany and for the country, playing a pivotal role for employment, development local socio-economic, technological excellence, the promotion of cultural tourism, for the production of electricity and heat supply from renewable sources “, said Massimo Montemaggi, Head of Geothermal at Enel Green Power.
“Geothermal resource are a public asset and, as such, should be used for the good of all,” said the mayor of Piancastagnaio Luigi Vagaggini.
Active geothermal plants in Italy are currently all operated by Enel Green Power and are concentrated in Tuscany – between the provinces of Pisa, Siena and Grosseto – where Enel Green Power manages the oldest geothermal complex in the world and has the know-how in terms of geothermal energy international. Of 34 of the country’s geothermal plants, 15 are in the province of Pisa for a total of 16 production groups; 9 are in Siena for a total of 10 groups; finally, other 10 are located in the province of Grosseto for a total of 11 groups of production.
2016 has seen the production record with 5,871 GWh (nearly 6 billion kilowatt-hours), can meet almost 30% of the energy needs of the region. This is an amount of electricity equal to the average annual consumption of more than 2.4 million households (more than the number of Tuscan families), which allows a savings of over 1 million and 400 thousand TOE (tonnes of oil equivalent) and 4 , 1 Mt of CO2 emissions avoided.
Source: Radio Siena TV
