Milan, 26 October 2023 – Fri-El Geo, producer of geothermal energy, and A2A, through its A2A Heat and Services subsidiary, a leader in Italy's district heating sector, have started a partnership whose aim is to increase the use of renewable sources for the heating of the city of Milan, which will make it possible to reduce CO2 emissions. Studies for the location of the plants within the metropolitan area of Milan are currently ongoing.
With this agreement, Fri-El and A2A Heat and Services have underlined their intention to meet the challenge of energy transition and ecological neutrality by 2050. Geothermal energy is, in fact, one of the energy sources with the lowest environmental impact and is ready to play an important role in Italy's sustainable future.
Thanks to district heating, the thermal energy produced by a geothermal facility can arrive directly in homes without the need for any restructuring of the building. Moreover, homes would improve their energy class rating at least two-fold through the replacement of methane gas, which today in Italy is responsible for more than 50% of emissions of CO2 caused by domestic heating systems.
"This partnership is a concrete, innovative and effective response in the debate on the ‘green homes’ guidelines going on in Parliament and at the European Council," states Ernst Gostner, CEO of Fri-El Geo. "We are investing many resources in geothermal energy and, with the price of gas rising today, it is increasingly urgent for the government to commit itself, through appropriate incentives, to safeguarding the risks of investors so as to increase competitivity and foster the creation of geothermal facilities."
"The urban heating and cooling sector contributes significantly to the city's emissions of CO2. Reducing the carbon footprint of the city’s district heating and district cooling networks, which are already a model of efficiency and circularity through the use of resources available in the area, is one of the main objectives of the A2A Group’s decarbonization strategy" notes Luca Rigoni, managing director of A2A Heat and Services. "The agreement signed with Fri-El Geo falls within this strategy, ensuring for A2A Heat and Services the supply of 100% green thermal energy, which will be made available by the geothermal facilities currently being developed."
Fri-El Geo has already presented its Pangea Project, which foresees more than 100 geothermal exploration opportunities in Italy, of which 15 are already feasible within the next few years. The aim is to utilise the heat coming from underground geothermal sources for distribution in built-up residential and industrial areas nationwide. A closed-cycle, medium-enthalpy geothermal plant like the one under construction at Ostellato, near the city of Ferrara, is able to produce enough green thermal energy to heat around 120,000 homes, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and could save 40,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
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Founded in 2021, Fri-El Geo is a leader in the development of geothermal plants at mid-enthalpy. It is part of the Bolzano-based Fri-El Green Power Group, a pioneering company in the development of wind farms in Italy.
Stock Exchange-listed, with a workforce of over 13,000, A2A Group operates in the generation, sale and distribution of energy and the sale and distribution of gas, district heating, the waste cycle, e-mobility, smart services for towns and cities, public lighting and the integrated water cycle. Sustainability is at the heart of A2A’s industrial strategy; to promote Italy’s sustainable growth and to make the energy transition and circular economy concrete realities, its industrial plan foresees investments totalling 16 billion euros by 2030 in projects aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda.
Fri-El Geo press office
Close to Media
Paola Ganapini
Paola.ganapini@closetomedia.it – M. 366 6688575
Davide di Battista
Davide.dibattista@closetomedia.it – M. 334 6033756
Matteo Fratangeli
mat.fratangeli@gmail.com – M. 340 6056196
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