Ravenna: a model for the Energy Transition

Over the last years, Eni's just transition path has brought Ravenna's industrial hub into the heart of Eni and the Country's decarbonisation and circular economy strategies, with projects already under way or recently started.

Eni has built Ravenna into Italy's main Energy District by fine-tuning a model which has been exporting worldwide. The first methane extractions projects in the 1950s and upstream developments were followed by many others, includingthermal and electric power generation(the Enipower plant has an installed capacity of 973 MW); chemistry (through Versalis); remediation and productive redevelopment of the areas, by EniRewind, Eni's environmental company, as well as photovoltaic and circular economy initiatives.

This Energy District is gradually becoming a cutting-edge model for a just transition, as the Local Sustainability Report 2022 calls it, which means a socially fair energy transition, translated into actions that support the achievement of Eni's objectives before 2050: net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, increase of energy generated from renewable sources, an increase of the natural gas component up to 90% of the total hydrocarbons produced by Eni worldwide.

Just like any other important transformation, a series of conditions must be met, at the right time. These are certainly based on clearly structured regulatory incentives with reliable response timing, high-level know-how and infrastructure togetherwith skilled workers and the involvement of all internal and external stakeholders, as well as executive bodies inspired by passion and a vision of the future.

In Ponticelle, Eni Rewind is managing a productive redevelopment project, aimed at adding value to the territory. The former industrial area owned by Eni's environmental company and adjacent to the petrochemical site, has already been the subject of an intervention with permanent safety measures and certified by the authorities. The development plan includes a photovoltaic plant with an energy storage lab, a bioremediation platform for land contaminated by hydrocarbons, and a multifunctional waste pre-treatment platform for industrial and environmental waste that will be built by Eni Rewind and Herambiente, through the HEA joint venture. An important synergy with which the two companies intend to minimize waste disposal, favoring the recovery of energy and matter.

To complete the project, urbanization works are planned for road and pedestrian circulation, parking and public lighting systems, as well as a naturalistic recovery and restoration work with the planting of about 800 pine trees and holm oaks within the Classe Pine Forest.

Rendering of Eni's Ponticelle project in Ravenna's industrial hub

Also in Ravenna, a program for the construction of a Carbon Capture and Storage hub (CCS) has been launched, in the Ravenna offshore spent gas fields, with a potential storage of 500 million of tonnes. This project will provide the opportunity to concretely intervene in terms of emissions reduction, in those hard to abate sectors, where decarbonisation is currently harder to achieve (such as in steel, concrete or chemical industries), while creating a high-tech national supply chain in the decarbonisation process. The program entails a first phase (Phase 1) to create a capture and storage hub for 25 thousand tonnes of CO₂ per year, starting from 2024. Carbon dioxide will be captured by Eni's natural gas treatment plant in Casalborsetti (Ravenna), conveyed toward the Porto Corsini Mare Ovest platform - which will be converted to this new use - and then injected into the same-name spent gas field in the Ravenna offshore. Phase 2, with 4 mln tonnes, will start in 2026.

After 2030, the large storage capacity of the Ravenna offshore fields will allow the amount of captured emissions to be increased to 16 million tons per year.

This area saw the construction and launch of the first solar-power offshore platforms (BEAF). Still on the subject of renewable energy, the DICS (Northern Central District) started the installation of photovoltaic plants to cover the requirements of its sites, starting with the office district in Marina di Ravenna, where the installation of panels for over 650kW of power has just been completed.

Other projects to contrast emissions and increase efficiency and savings are under way. One example of this is the electrification of the Rubicone Plant compression system, in Gatteo Mare, completed in 2020, with a reduction of approx. 23,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

Besides carbon neutrality and operational excellence, alliances for development are the third pillar of Eni's sustainability strategy. This means partnerships with local enterprises - essential to enhance local resources and strengthen historical relationships - which Eni has constantly sustained, according to the principle of long-term partnerships, to create shared and long-lasting value. It is the Dual Flag approach that makes Eni stand out in the territories in which it is present.

And this approach is facilitated by the traditional Romagna region entrepreneurship. In relation to this, one publicly known example is local mussels farming. This business has been favoured by offshore platforms, which have become a natural habitat for mussels. Hence, the idea of entrusting the underwater cleaning operations to two fishing cooperatives from Marina di Ravenna, abiding by all necessary safety protocols. This resulted in 32 divers and 8 boats employed full-time in harvesting the mussels, which are then sold under the brand "La Selvaggia di Marina di Ravenna".

Eni contributes to improve the territory, such as with coast and environmental protection initiatives, energy efficiency works and enhancement projects, as for instance, the "Osservatorio sulla Chimica" and the "coLABoRA" business incubator, which also involves the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. Between 2000 and 2021, the company contributed to the development of the Ravenna territory with an investment of over €72 mln, regulated by collaboration agreements with the Municipality of Ravenna and regional and local Bodies, entrusted to manage and enhance the area.