Environment and innovation projects

EU Infrastructure speaks to Fulvio Conti, CEO of Enel, one of the largest utility companies in Europe about the new projects the company are embracing with regard to their Environment Project.

Enel is Italy’s largest power company and Europe’s second listed utility by installed capacity, producing, distributing and selling electricity and gas across Europe, North and Latin America, to more than 50 million power and gas customers. In 2007, Enel posted impressive revenues of €43.7 billion and CEO Fulvio Conti is keen to continue the good work. “2007 has been a transformational year for Enel,” he beams, “particularly with the acquisition of Endesa, as well as the Russian assets. In the next five years Enel will mainly focus on three priorities: consolidating and integrating the new group; delivering growth from this new platform and; maintaining a stable and secure financial position.”

After having completed the sale of non-strategic assets, Enel is actively engaged in international expansion on the power and gas market. Enel is currently the second-largest Italian operator in the natural gas market, operating a wide range of hydroelectric, thermoelectric, nuclear, geothermal, wind-power and photovoltaic power stations.

Enel is also launching a new strategic objective: to reinforce commitment to protecting the environment. In order to do this, the company are launching a huge investment project for the research, innovation and development of renewable resources. This also covers communication and information on the environment, since Enel believe that it is possible to produce energy with contained costs, respecting the environment and helping to reduce the risks of climate change.

Over the next five years Enel will be investing €7.4 billion as part of Enel’s Environment Project, in the development of renewable energy sources and for the research and development of new environmental friendly technologies. Of this figure €6.8 billion is dedicated to develop renewables, while €600 million is for R&D projects, such as high efficiency solar-power, off-shore wind facilities, hydrogen applications and CO2 capture and storage.

Off-shore wind farm
One project in the pipeline will be the first off-shore wind farm in the Mediterranean. At the end of 2007, Enel’s installed wind capacity in Italy has risen to 325 MW. The target set out in the 2008-2012 business plan is to increase this figure five-fold, to reach about 1500 MW of wind power generated in Italy by 2012. Italy’s first off-shore facility will see the installation of 115 large generators with a capacity of between three and five megawatts in the Gulf of Gela, at least three nautical miles off-shore, between the towns of Licara, Butera and Gela.

The project, a joint venture between Enel and Moncada Costruzioni will have a total installed capacity of between 345 and 575 MW, at an investment of around €500 million. The towers, which will be equipped with rotors with a diameter of about 110 metres, will be more than 100 metres tall and anchored to the sea bed in waters up to 30 metres deep. Once fully operational, the new wind farm will generate 1,150 million KWh of power, enough electricity to meet the needs of 390,000 households, avoiding CO2 emissions of 815,000 metric tons per year.

“This innovative project will double Enel’s installed capacity in the wind sector in Italy,” says Conti. “It is an example of virtuous co-operation among companies, local institutions and environmental associations. Enel’s commitment to renewable sources is significant and it is experiencing a continuous and solid growth. Today, Enel’s emissions-free generation already represents about 30% of the total. We believe in wind power and we want to play a leading role in developing this energy source in Italy as well.”

Clean coal power plant
Enel is also involved in clean coal plants. In July of this year, the first of three units at Enel’s Civitavecchia power plant was unveiled. “The Torrevaldaliga Nord power plant makes a major contribution to diversifying the national energy mix and to the security of supply, to reducing emissions and to enhancing the competitiveness of Italy’s electricity system, in line with the European energy policy.”

The refurbished plant will meet 50% of electricity demand in Lazio, equal to about four% of domestic consumption. Thanks to the use of the most advanced technologies available the plant, which will be fully operational in 2009, will be the most efficient in its class and will significantly reduce environmental impact. Compared with the previous oil-fired plant, all emissions will be greatly reduced – nitrogen oxides by 61% and particulates and sulphur dioxide by 88% – and through this, emissions will be 50% below the stringent levels set by European Union health and environmental legislation.

The plant, with a total capacity of 1980 MW, is composed of three units, one fewer than the old plant. This capacity reduction will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 18%. Moreover, Enel is working on developing CO2 capture and sequestration through a number of cutting-edge projects. The goal of these projects, which are considered by the European Commission to be among the most interesting ones in this area, is ‘zero-emission’ fossil fuel power generation. Through Co2 capture and sequestration technologies flue gas will be captured at the chimney and stored safely, in deep aquifers or in exhausted methane or oil fields.

Photovoltaic power
In May 2008, Enel signed a strategic partnership in the photovoltaic sector with Sharp. The two partners will assess the construction of a plant in Italy to manufacture panels using Sharp’s triple-junction thin-film technology. The output of the plant, whose sizze and structure is currently being assessed by the two companies, will mainly go towards meeting the rising demand for photovoltaic panels in Italy, South Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean basin.

Sharp and Enel.si, the sector-leading Enel Group company, will develop photovoltaic fields with a total capacity of 161 MWp by the end of 2011. Once fully in service, the plants will generate more than 220 GWh of electricity per year, enough to meet the needs of 81,500 households and to avoid some 110,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Renewable energy
Enel is one of the largest independent operators in the world, capacity includes:

North America: Enel has 470MW of hydroelectric, wind and biomass power generation and has just signed an agreement with the company TradeWind energy in the US, to develop 1000 MW of new wind power. In March 2007, Enel, through its subsidiary Enel North America, announced the acquisition of AMP Resources. The acquisition includes one operating and four advanced stage geothermal development projects expected to add approximately 150 MW of capacity over the next four years to Enel’s North American operations, as well as access to a number of future opportunities.

Latin America: Enel operates 660 MW of hydroelectric and wind power plants. Enel Latin America also runs operations in El Salvador in the geothermal field.

France: Enel has acquired Erelis, a company that has authorisations in several different fields to build wind plants of up to 500 MW. Over more, it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with EDF to acquire 12.5% of the new nuclear power project European Pressurized Reactor (EPR). Enel owns five% of the French power stock exchange Powernext and is one of the main operators in energy trading in the country with 1000 MW exchanged in 2006.

Bulgaria: Enel acquired control of one of the country’s largest power plants, Maritza East III, in March 2003. The lignite-fired facility has a capacity of 840 MW.

Slovakia : In February 2005, Enel acquired 66% of Slovenské elektrárne (SE), the largest electricity generator in the country, and the second-largest in Central and Eastern Europe, with a generation capacity of 6000 MW, a mix of nuclear, thermal and hydro assets.

Romania: In April 2005, it acquired 51% of two electricity distribution companies: Enel Distributie Banat and Enel Distributie Dobrogea, which supply 1.4 million customers. Further to the acquisition of Electrica Muntenia Sud, finalized on 5 June 2008, the electricity distribution company operating in the Bucarest area, Enel doubled its presence in Romania, reaching about 2.5 million customers.