A delegation of Emilia-Romagna region attended the German Italian Energy Forum 2023 - held at the IHK in Frankfurt am Main the 6th of July 2023 and organized by ITKAM - presenting opportunities of investments and collaboration in the field of green hydrogen. About 200 participants attended the event, including companies, research organizations and other institutions, confirming the great interest on this subject.
The regional delegation put together public and private actors, including the regional government, ART-ER/Invest in Emilia-Romagna, Clust-ER Greentech and several companies as Bologna Airport, Fornovo Gas, Hera Group, Resoh+, Sapir (operating in the Ravenna Port).
During the morning, the regional delegation also visited the Fraunhofer institute and the company Heraeus, where relevant innovative projects related to hydrogen are ongoing.
Emilia-Romagna is one of the few regions in Europe to have joined the Hydrogen Europe network, a European association that together with the European Commission governs the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, a public-private partnership that finances research and innovation activities for hydrogen in Europe. In addition, the region participates in the H2 Pilot of the European Vanguard network for the development of pilot initiatives under the Smart Specialisation Strategy. At regional level, in 2020 Emilia-Romagna signed the Pact for Work and Climate with 55 stakeholders, which also focuses on strengthening investments in green hydrogen.
The Clust-ER Greentech - an association that includes 107 members including companies (60% of the total), laboratories and training institutions - has among its value chains also the Low Carbon Economy and a working group of about 45 members on Hydrogen and Power-to-Gas, as well as being a member of H2IT - Italian Association for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells. The research programme ECOSISTER - Territorial Innovation Ecosystem of Emilia-Romagna, funded with 110 million NRRP - includes among the activities "Technologies, systems and components for the production, distribution, accumulation and direct use of green hydrogen and for the production of e-fuel". More in general, the whole regional innovation ecosystem shows many connections with energy and sustainability issues.
In the regional supply chains we find particularly energy-intensive production segments, the so-called "Hard to abate" sectors, including the ceramics industry, which are now strongly oriented towards a strategy of decarbonization of production. In addition, the supply chain linked to the production of green hydrogen must be strengthened in some segments. Another important area is that of public and heavy transport.
Among the regional projects in progress we find a call for proposal just closed that focuses on the redevelopment of dismissed industrial areas with the creation of plants for the production of green hydrogen: the project IdrogeMO in Modena - managed by Hera and Snam - will be supported with 19.5 million euros, with resources from the NRRP managed by Emilia-Romagna Region. In addition, in the Ravenna area, a hub for renewable energy is being built, which also includes the production of green hydrogen linked to an offshore wind farm (Agnes Project).
The Invest in Emilia-Romagna contact point, which accompanied the delegation, is available to support investment proposals and partnerships in the region: investinemiliaromagna@art-er.it
The full program of the event is available here
