(Finance) – Decarbonization of airplane transport and new solutions for asustainable aviationwith a particular focus on the use ofhydrogen as an energy carrier of the future in the airport logistics chain: these are the main thematic areas contained in the protocol signed today, 26 May 2023, betweenEnacthe National Civil Aviation Authority, and theAENEASthe National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development.
“ENAC – commented the Director General Alessio Quaranta – in recent years he has been constantly engaged in promoting initiatives that can reconcile air transport with environmental sustainability, also in line with international and national strategic guidelines. Achieving the decarbonisation goals is certainly an ambitious challenge, but there is no single solution to achieve this goal. It is therefore essential to identify integrated strategies that involve all the activities and operations that make up the sector, with the right opening towards technological innovations and alternative energy sources”.
The Director General ENEA, George Welcome, he highlighted: “This agreement focuses on air transport and, specifically, on airport hubs in a perspective of decarbonisation through the use of the hydrogen carrier. It is a source of satisfaction for us that Enac has identified ENEA as the partner with which to identify scenarios, strategies and solutions for Smart Energy Hubs. In this sector, in fact, the Agency has consolidated know-how and is carrying out numerous projects within the framework of the PNRR and a hydrogen valley which envisages an investment of 14 million euros to give life to its Casaccia research center , on the outskirts of Rome, to a technological incubator for the development of the hydrogen supply chain, with the aim of promoting the energy transition and decarbonisation”.
L’signed agreement today plans to build one study which, identifying an airport site as a “case study”, analyzes current energy flows and airport processes and identifies technologies, strategies and possible improvement configurations in terms of energy.
The ultimate aim of the study is the elaboration of Guidelines that provide airport managers with useful elements for optimizing the energy networks as a whole airport logistics and the identification of future hydrogen end uses at airport hubs. To this end, the study plans to analyze and compare energy mix solutions (renewable sources, storage systems, energy carriers, etc.), together with site management, control and monitoring technologies in order to increase its energy independence and resilience, making the model replicable and scalable in similar contexts and/or larger than in the case study.
The initiative also provides for the publication of a Enac announcement to identify, at a national level, the sample airport site for the management of the case study. Proposals which, in addition to actively involving the airport, manage to extend the benefits of the initiative to local, institutional and private realities, manufacturers of vehicles and technologies, energy procurement and dispatching bodies and companies and logistics operators will be awarded.