Energy: ENEA and Fondazione Bruno Kessler together on hydrogen, batteries and renewables

Hydrogen, renewable energy, batteries and integration with energy networks are the main technology areas covered by a three-year agreement signed by ENEA and Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) to  develop innovative solutions supporting Italy’s ecological transition.

In addition to pooling their technical-scientific expertise and infrastructures, ENEA and FBK will work in synergy with other scientific institutions and Italian and international stakeholders, strengthening partnerships linked to the European Green Deal, with particular attention to decarbonization process, transition of the national energy system, technologies and end uses of hydrogen, batteries, smart sector integration, development of new materials, components and systems for energy and IT technologies.

"The collaboration with the Fondazione Bruno Kessler is an opportunity to support our country in the extraordinary times we are living, deeply affected by the current health emergency and energy factors such as the 2030 and 2050 decarbonisation goals.

Targeted actions will be needed to support the industrial world, aimed at linking innovation to valuable development to strenghten the national industry’s competitiveness. That’s what we want to provide with this memorandum of understanding", Giorgio Graditi, Head of the ENEA Department of Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources, pointed out.

“We want to join ENEA in meeting this global challenge. We are aware that the industrial and manufacturing sectors are in a condition of high uncertainty due to the current situation, which requires new directions for development with energy and environmental sustainability to ensure a sustainable future.

We participate in this challenge with a common aim, committed to providing support to the industrial sector. We will share expertise and infrastructures, methods and tools to accelerate and orient this effort in the proper perspective”,  said Luigi Crema, Director of the FBK Sustainable Energy Center.

Thanks to the memorandum of understanding, ENEA and FBK will act together to promote and coordinate project initiatives as part of the IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest), in particular on batteries and hydrogen, through support actions to Italian companies.

"As regards the national industry, the urgent need of building new skills, expanding knowledge, developing technologies, products, services, projects and receiving support on issues such as hydrogen, batteries and renewable energy- to be introduced in industrial manufacturing and widely implemented- is increasingly evident.”, Graditi said. "The partnership ENEA-FBK aims at providing skills, tools and technological infrastructures addressing concrete national needs and European opportunities, especially in the emerging energy sectors in which Italy needs extensive support to reposition and strengthen its manufacturing assets ”, Graditi concluded.

"We provide industries with a co-development model, through which innovators and technicians from industry and technology centers work together in the same laboratories on a common goal. We work at how to design technologies aimed at improving  performance and reducing costs, analyzing the benefits and validating the technologies.

Being the first on new markets enables to gain a position and growth factor that  we must use our best effort to achieve. The IPCEI initiative will allow ENEA and FBK to work with industries and institutions toward this direction ", continued Crema.

ENEA and Fondazione Bruno Kessler are present and collaborate both in international organizations and initiatives, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), Mission Innovation, Clean Hydrogen Alliance (CH2A) and Clean Hydrogen for Europe (CHE), IPCEI batteries and hydrogen, and national ones (H2IT and Confindustria) and their partnership is strategic to promote local initiatives linked to energy communities and the use of renewable energy sources.