(Finance) – It has just ended Castelfranco Emilyin the province of Modena, the second phase of the experimentation relating to the use ofhydrogen in a city gas distribution network. This is a project, divided into four phases, of which Inrete Distribuzione Energia, a company from, is the leader Hera Group which carries out thenatural gas distribution activities and of theelectric energyand in which entities representing the entire Italian gas supply chain participate, from transport and distribution to manufacturers of domestic appliances for end use, as well as the main sector control and certification bodies that have tasks of supervising the activities.
The role of the institutions is also fundamental, in particular the Municipality of Castelfranco Emilia and the trade associations. Representatives of the Fire Brigade of the Emilia Romagna Region also attended the experiment.
The drawing shared was created with the aim of exploring the different operational aspects that allow the gas infrastructure to be managed in total safety, already in its current configuration, even with mixtures of natural gas and hydrogen. The goal is to study solutions innovative for the use of green gas, energy carriers with low environmental impact which, when fully operational, will be able to contribute to the decarbonisation needs of the territory, starting from civil and residential uses, with important benefits for the environment.
There combustion of thehydrogenIn fact, it does not produce CO2, but mainly water vapour. Furthermore, hydrogen is a gas that can be produced through “zero km” industrial processes. The partial replacement of natural gas with this resource therefore contributes to reducing the energy dependence on traditional fossil sources and allows us to start the decarbonisation of civil and domestic uses, without the need for interventions on the systems of individual homes.
The projectWe remind you that it involves around forty families, appropriately and thoroughly informed, and represents the first experience of this type in Italy. In detail, the activity just concluded saw a new entry in the portion of the gas infrastructure involved, of a mixture of methane and hydrogen, at 2%. In this phase it was possible, thanks to the collaboration of citizens involved in the experimentation, to extend the tests also downstream of the meter, also carrying out checks on the functioning of the domestic systems in use in homes, so as to obtain a timely evaluation of the results.
“We are proud to be the first in Italy to experiment with solutions for the use of green gas in domestic networks – comments the CEO of Inrete Distribuzione Energia, Federico Bronzini – This cutting-edge project, thanks to the collaboration of important partners representing the entire Italian gas supply chain, paves the way for energy carriers with low environmental impact, such as hydrogen, in a process of decarbonisation of the territory which must also be achieved in the civil and residential sector”.
“We have accepted the challenge of being the first municipal administration in Italy to support an experiment aimed at such cutting-edge residential users with potentially great impact on the issues of decarbonisation – commented the mayor of the City of Castelfranco Emilia John Gargano – Our thanks certainly go to the families who agreed to join the project, which, due to the scope of the top-level partners involved, could represent a real watershed towards an increasingly green future. For our administration this is a further element that adds to the activities we have already implemented in recent years to have an increasingly sustainable and decarbonised city”.
For the correct measurement of gas, the experiment sees the use of NexMeter on all users in Castelfranco Emilia affected by the project. NexMeter is the innovative G4 gas meter developed by the Hera GroupHera Group. This is the only advanced meter on the Italian market already enabled to measure mixtures of methane and hydrogen. NexMeter is the first meter of this kind existing at European level, both for technologies toavant-garde which it uses, both for its safety functions and is already present in more than 250,000 Italian homes connected to gas distribution networks.