War in Ukraine: what Draghi said about gas, coal and Italy's energy transition
Energy — di Simone Santi
For Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the war in Ukraine forces a rethink of energy policy: a temporary return to coal could also be on the table.
War in Ukraine: what Draghi said about gas, coal and Italy's energy transition
For Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the war in Ukraine forces a rethink of energy policy: a temporary return to coal could also be on the table.
To address the energy consequences arising from the war in Ukraine, Prime Minister Mario Draghi believes that renewable energy is the best path forward, but only "in the long term". In the short term, gas supplies would need to be improved and it may also be necessary to "reopen some coal-fired power stations". Economic sanctions against Russia are already in place, but they will have a significant impact on Europe and Italy too, particularly in the energy sector. As a result, something will have to change in transition policy.
A return to coal for Mario Draghi?
The greatest concern was raised by the passage in which Draghi, in his address to the Chamber of Deputies on the situation in Ukraine, stated that "the reopening of coal-fired power stations may be necessary to fill any shortfalls in the immediate term".
Italy currently has seven coal-fired power stations: the one in La Spezia, those at Fiume Santo and Portoscuso in Sardinia, one in Brindisi, one in Civitavecchia, near Rome, one in Fusina (Venice) and one in Monfalcone. Together, they produce 4.9 per cent of Italy's energy needs, and two of them (La Spezia and Monfalcone) had already begun the conversion process — halted as recently as January due to the ongoing energy emergency. Italy had committed to closing or converting all of them by 2025.
Diversifying gas suppliers
Gas is nonetheless Draghi's primary concern; he reminded his audience that today "approximately 45 per cent of the gas we import comes from Russia, up from 27 per cent ten years ago. The events of recent days demonstrate the imprudence of not having more diversified our energy sources and our suppliers over the past few decades".
Ora più che mai è il momento di spingere su alternative a #gas e carbone che, a differenza del passato, sono competitive
Years before the energy transition in Italy began to be discussed, "we reduced gas production from 17 billion cubic metres per year in 2000 to around 3 billion cubic metres in 2020, against a national consumption that has remained constant at between roughly 70 and 90 billion cubic metres". For this reason, the Prime Minister concluded, "we must press ahead swiftly on the diversification front, in order to overcome our vulnerability as soon as possible and avoid the risk of future crises".
One of the most urgent solutions to prevent new gas crises, in Draghi's view, is a storage system at European level: "Italy is committed to pushing the European Union towards shared storage mechanisms, which will help all countries to manage periods of temporary reductions in supply.
Liquefied natural gas must also be considered
But the government, Mario Draghi assured, is also working to increase alternative supplies. These include liquefied natural gas imported via other routes, such as from the United States. "The American president, Joe Biden, offered his willingness to support allies with greater supplies, and I want to thank him for that."
Liquefied natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbons composed predominantly of methane (90–99 per cent), obtained by subjecting natural gas, extracted from deposits beneath the earth's surface, to a liquefaction process at a temperature of approximately -162 degrees, which allows the volume of the gas to be reduced by around 600 times. However, Italy's capacity to make use of it is limited by the small number of regasification terminals in operation — only three. Therefore, for the future, "a reflection on these infrastructures too is more timely than ever".
The government then intends to work to increase flows from pipelines that are not running at full capacity — such as the Tap, which runs from Azerbaijan to the coasts of Salento and has been active since 2020, bringing Italy around 7 billion cubic metres of gas last year but with a potential capacity of roughly three times that; the Transmed, which runs from Algeria and Tunisia to Sicily, at Mazara del Vallo (30 billion cubic metres at full capacity); and the Green Stream, which currently transports 8 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the Libyan coast to the Italian coast.
For Mario Draghi, yes to renewables — but in the long term
After thanking Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani for the work he carries out daily on this issue, so important for our future, Draghi finally spoke about renewables: "The most valid response in the long term lies in pressing ahead swiftly, as we are doing, towards greater development of renewable energy sources, also and above all through greater simplification of the procedures for installing plants".
The final passage on energy returns to gas: "It remains essential as a transition fuel. We must strengthen the southern corridor, improve our regasification capacity and increase domestic production at the expense of imports. Because gas produced in Italy is more manageable and can be less expensive".