Green hydrogen is fundamental to the energy transition of the European Union. The European Commission itself has said as much, identifying hydrogen produced from renewable sources as an ideal energy carrier for achieving the net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target (climate neutrality) by 2050. Across Italy, a number of projects are taking shape to produce hydrogen.

From Lombardy to Lazio, from Umbria to Sicily, numerous industry players have announced the creation of hydrogen valleys — a recurring expression used to describe those ecosystems that encompass both the production and consumption of hydrogen and that combine research, industrial and civil uses, and sustainable mobility.

The hydrogen valley of northern Italy

Let us start in northern Italy. Taking inspiration from the iLint, the world's first hydrogen-powered passenger train, successfully trialled in Lower Saxony, the Valcamonica — specifically the Brescia–Iseo–Edolo railway line — launched, at the end of 2020, the H2iseO project, which envisages the purchase of six hydrogen-powered trains that, from 2023, will operate along the valley route, replacing the existing diesel railcars.

The transition from diesel to hydrogen also involves another important phase of works: the construction of a production, storage and distribution facility for hydrogen. According to local sources, the Lombard transport company Fnm, owner of Trenord, and the Brescia-based multi-utility A2A, have signed a memorandum for the construction of the first production plant at Iseo, in the depot area where diesel trains currently refuel. It will be a blue hydrogen facility, using methane and biomethane with capture and storage of the CO2 produced, but according to Trenord, from 2023 it will be joined by another production centre, this time through electrolysis, meaning the hydrogen will become green. Subsequently, by 2025, hydrogen distribution will be extended, via the network managed by Snam, to local public transport as well, comprising around 40 vehicles, with the possibility of opening up to freight logistics too.

Green hydrogen enters the ports

On the subject of freight, two port hubs are involved in the hydrogen revolution. One is Porto Marghera, where the Hydrogen park consortium of companies has been established — having already worked on a fuel-cell-powered water bus project — and which, in concert with the port system authority of the northern Adriatic Sea, has put the port of Venice forward for the European programme "Horizon 2020 Green Ports", which aims to support projects that make maritime freight traffic more sustainable.

Then there is the port of Civitavecchia, a city in Lazio that has put itself forward to become Italy's first port "hydrogen valley". The port system authority of the northern Tyrrhenian Sea is, in fact, a partner in the "Life3H" project, coordinated by the Abruzzo region. Sea and hinterland are thus linked with the aim of sharing hydrogen production, storage and use sites under the banner of sustainable mobility: three refuelling stations will be built in the area between the Rocche plateau in Abruzzo, the Terni steelworks and, indeed, the port of Civitavecchia. In particular, the Umbrian steelworks will make any surplus hydrogen available, free of charge, to the local bus fleet.

Romagna's first offshore hydrogen valley

But one of the most ambitious projects is undoubtedly the one proposed by Eni off the Romagna coast. It is called Agnes and consists of two wind farms, a solar farm and an electrolysis plant for the production of green hydrogen. An entirely offshore project that makes use of decommissioned platforms previously used for gas extraction (there are at least 75 of them in the Adriatic).

Agnes requires substantial investment, which its promoters have estimated at one billion euros. Initial studies have demonstrated a maximum production capacity of 620 megawatts: 520 generated by wind power and 100 by the floating solar farm. The hydrogen production plant, meanwhile, would guarantee four thousand tonnes per year, sufficient to power two thousand hydrogen buses. It is estimated that 1.5 terawatt-hours (TW) per year will be produced, an amount of energy sufficient to meet the annual energy needs of 500,000 households.

In the future, hydrogen could be extracted directly from the sea: a study by Stanford University in California has developed a method for obtaining hydrogen from saltwater. For the promoters of Agnes, this represents an opportunity to expand the market.

High-tech experimental centres

Finally, there are the experimental research centres. On this topic, it would be impossible to overlook Enea's proposal (the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), which intends to develop a research hub on the outskirts of Rome at the Casaccia research centre. A hub spanning 100 hectares, where 1,000 researchers will be engaged in research and experimentation across the entire hydrogen supply chain, and where "the first demonstrator of a significant scale of the real feasibility of a green economy based on hydrogen" will be built, Enea has explained.

An investment of 14 million euros to bring to life Italy's first technology incubator, in collaboration with universities, research institutes, associations and businesses. According to Enea, the research centre will also enable the testing of new technologies for hydrogen production — for example, through the use of waste and the application of medium-to-high temperature renewable heat produced by concentrating solar power plants. Plans also include the construction of a local hydrogen pipeline dedicated to the transport of pure hydrogen under pressure, and a refuelling station for vehicles in use within the research centre.

Meanwhile, several Italian universities are forging agreements for the joint development of projects related to hydrogen production and storage. One example is the "co-opetition" agreement signed between the University of Turin and the Politecnico: drawing on the research experience of each institution (both are working on innovative energy storage projects), cross-disciplinary working groups have been established and a joint action protocol on hydrogen-related issues has been developed. In particular, this collaboration aims to provide the Piedmont region and the city of Turin with support for the establishment of the National Hub for Hydrogen Research, to which, in addition to the two Piedmontese universities, several institutions and companies have signed up.

Piedmont is not the only region seeking to host a national hydrogen centre: Puglia and Sicily have both declared this ambition on numerous occasions. On the island of Sicily, for example, at the Eni Biorefinery in Gela a plant for the production of hydrogen has already been built (grey hydrogen, i.e. through a steam reforming process) for the production of HVO (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil), a biodiesel in which the six-legged dog company continues to invest. The challenge is to make this hydrogen as green as possible: two pilot projects have now been launched together with Enel, which will include an electrolyser of around 10 megawatts, and are expected to begin generating sustainable hydrogen by 2023.

Hydrogen, in conclusion, will offer a major opportunity for Italy to become an important player in the European energy market and, consequently, the global one. Naturally, for this to also become environmentally sustainable, it is necessary to push in the direction of green hydrogen. It is the only way we have to achieve the energy transition that the planet – and above all its inhabitants – needs as soon as possible.