NEWS ARCHIVE

LIFE Step-WISE is a co-funded project by the European Union, started in December 2023, which recognises the central role held by local authorities in reducing energy consumption and gas emissions through the development of local clean energy transition plans. The project consists of a tailored and dynamic capacity building programme to transform local and regional authorities into autonomous early adopters of digitised, integrated, and ambitious Clean Energy Transition Plans. The Step-WISE mission is to increase capacity of local and regional authorities to initiate an effective energy transition through development of Clean Energy Transition Plans. The eight project partners, with EIS as coordinator and Sinloc as participant, will work  to make the process easier, quicker and more accurate via a Step-WISE toolkit, which will allow administrations at all levels to have a digital baseline model of their area/region, use physics-based energy simulation to evaluate different energy scenarios, prioritise interventions in time, and build dynamic Clean Energy Transition Plan to monitor progress towards targets. Sinloc will create a strategic and regulatory framework of policy tools, support the development of the toolkit and support the action of capacity building aimed at six small and medium-sized administrations belonging to Mediterranean islands, thanks to the connection with the European Facility NESOI. For further information visit the project web page  

Alpiq, San Marco Petroli and Sinloc are jointly launching the project “H2 Laguna”, to develop a green hydrogen ecosystem for the Veneto region. The partners are currently studying the feasibility of developing a 10 MW (megawatts) electrolyzer plant. The project aims at supplying hydrogen for regional transport companies who will use hydrogen fuel-cell trucks and for the decarbonation of the water transportation in the Venice Bay. The maritime area of Porto Marghera represents a unicum in Italy where ground transportation and local navigation in the Venice Bay area are strongly interconnected. The project aims to save around 14’000 tons of CO2 year. With their project under the name “H2 Laguna”, the three partners Alpiq, San Marco Petroli and Sinloc want to build a production plant supplied by certified green electricity for climate-neutral green hydrogen with a capacity up to 10 MW (megawatts) at a San Marco Petroli site in northern Italy. The three companies have launched a feasibility study to identify the best design of the different technical blocks of the value chain and identify and structure the hydrogen demand for mobility applications in the region. With an annual production of up to 1’200 tonnes of green hydrogen emissions of around 14’000 tonnes of CO2 per year can be avoided, especially in heavy goods traffic. In addition to the production of green hydrogen, the project aims to build a regional ecosystem for the ground transportation and for the marine navigation. The distribution of green hydrogen via the San Marco Petroli filling station network is also envisaged, as well as the offer of a fuel cell electric truck fleet in which third parties can invest (pay-per-use solutions), and an end-user base. With this project, the companies want to actively support the energy transition. It is intended as one of the first building blocks of a larger ecosystem that will enable the development of zero-emission transport solutions in the Veneto region. Above all, the partners want to make an important contribution to the decarbonisation of heavy goods transport in northern Italy and supply up to 150 fuel cell electric trucks per year with green hydrogen. These trucks are powered by hydrogen which is converted in electricity by fuel cell and this guarantee longer autonomy and faster charge. Depending on the development of demand, capacities can be increased accordingly. From the partners’ point of view, the project also promotes the overall development of the hydrogen sector in the region by building technological competence and new jobs. It will also make a significant contribution to the UN Sustainability Goals (SDGs). Alpiq has established experience in green electricity sourcing and is developing hydrogen businesses in several countries. Through its involvement in Hydrospider for example, a unique ecosystem in Switzerland for the procurement, production, and logistics of green hydrogen, Alpiq has been a pioneer in the development and operation of hydrogen plants. Alpiq will contribute its know-how and experience in the development, construction, and management of green hydrogen ecosystems to the project. Ralph Dassonville, Head Hydrogen Development

“Game changing”: SPIRIT project targets climate-friendly industrial heating Sinloc is partner of SPIRIT, the new EU project funded by Horizone Europe, that aims to make heat pumps the lead heating technology for industry by 2030. Industry is responsible for over 25% of EU greenhouse gas emissions, and decarbonising it is key to achieving Europe’s climate goals. Industrial heating is a particular challenge due to the high temperatures needed by many industries. The EU-funded SPIRIT project, which kicks off on 1 September 2022, will address this challenge. It will do so by demonstrating three full-scale (0.7 – 4 MW) high-temperature (140°C -160°C) heat pump technologies (in Norway, Belgium and Czech Republic) in the food and paper industry. It will investigate how their technical and economic performance can be improved and it will show how waste heat can be used to produce steam, proving that a heat pump can supply 3 times as much heat as it consumes in energy. The project will also study the heat pump operational integration with solar thermal systems. “Bringing heat pumps into the heart of European industry will be game changing” – commented Simon Spoelstra, Coordinator of the SPIRIT Project – “In the EU we need to cut net emissions by 55% by 2030, and be climate neutral by 2050. Decarbonising industrial heating through high-temperature heat pumps is central, and with the SPIRIT project we will start making this a reality.” The project will also look at innovative business models and contractual agreements, and how they can increase the impact of industrial heat pumps. What’s more, the 17 project partners will spread awareness on the barriers and benefits of upgrading heat technology in industry, with a view to reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The project will be coordinated by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). The project partners, who come from eight different countries, represent everything from design to manufacturing and from finance to research, bringing a wide range of expertise. The ultimate goal of the project, which will run for 3.5 years, is to enable industrial heat pumps to become the reference technology for covering industrial heat demand for temperatures up to 160°C by 2030. The project partners are:

First closing at 45 million euros for Ver Capital Sinloc Transition Energy Fund, which aims to be the first true national fund dedicated to energy transition. The Fund is promoted and managed by Ver Capital, with the support of Sinloc in the role of technical advisor, has a final funding target €200 million, with a net return target for investors of 10 percent. The Fund’s main objectives include mainly improving the energy efficiency of large public buildings such as hospitals, schools, or museum hubs, developing smart cities, focusing on the digitization of parking lots and street lighting, and building all plants for renewable energy production. The joint team of Ver Capital and Sinloc can count on a significant pipeline of investments stemming from established relationships with industrial partners, within non-competitive frameworks, mainly in public-private partnerships, which already meet a significant part of the fund’s investment needs. The Ver Capital Sinloc Transition Energy Fund is set up as an impact investing platform in the energy transition and renewable energy sector and is classified as an Article 9 under the SFDR (Sustainable finance disclosure regulation) directive, which is the maximum for a financial product targeting sustainable investments. The approximately 15 investments the fund will focus on will generate energy savings equivalent to at least nine thousand tons of oil equivalent (TOE) per year and avoid the emission of 15 thousand tons of CO2 per year, according to plans. Investments in energy efficiency represent an opportunity for the investor, if well structured and managed, in relation to the excellent risk-return ratio, low volatility, and high predictability of cash flows, coupled with the positive environmental and social impact. The possibility of intercepting investment operations with these characteristics is also supported by the results obtained by Sinloc, which, in the last decade, has activated more than 1.6 billion investments in the country in favor of the development of local infrastructure, renewable energy, and energy efficiency, mainly through public-private partnerships. In order to optimize the cash profile of professional investors, the fund will see in the first two years of its life a prevalence of “brownfield” initiatives and then give way to “late greenfield” initiatives in the second phase of the investment period. “Ver Capital,” said managing director Andrea Pescatori, “has combined its management experience with Sinloc’s expertise in energy, with an innovative investment proposal that could generate investments of up to one billion euros.” Added Sinloc’s CEO Antonio Rigon: “We strongly believe in this initiative, which will allow the Fund to make the best use of our national and European experiences in the energy field, and the country to focus even more on energy efficiency.”.

Sinloc, appointed by the Municipality of Capraia Isola and in a temporary joint venture with Studio Fabbro Architetti and ArchLandStudio, is carrying out the feasibility study of the landscape design “zona ex Carcere Capraia Isola” called Aghiale. The former agricultural penal colony, established in the 19th century and active until the middle of the 1980s, is today a perfectly structured hilly area, of rare beauty and emblematic of both the problems and the potential of small isolated communities. The challenge for Sinloc at Aghiale consists in combining environmental quality with the possibility of building up sustainable activities. Starting from analysis of the environmental, natural and man-made resources, the Sinloc team is involved in identifying the territory’s fragilities and vulnerabilities and evaluating the potential use of landscape resources with regard to demands, also cultural, and to social expectations. The project envisages a path or regeneration that will consist of a series of initiatives functional to the stabilization and growth of the community, involved in the process under way as primary custodian of the territory. The activities foreseen include the recovery of terracing and of agro-pastoral activities, starting touristic deseasonalisation and scientific, study and cultural procedures, with the goal of obtaining the best possible balance of environmental, social and economic management of the territory.

The operational phase of the PadovaFIT Expanded project begins.  In collaboration with the Municipality of Padua, this project aims at activating a Local One-stop Shop to guide citizens in the realization of energy upgrade measures in private homes, which contribute for around 40% to total CO2 emissions. The project is configured as a virtuous example in the definition of organizational and economic models for the energy upgrade of private buildings, aiming at obtaining a saving of around 700 tons per year of Co2 emissions. PadovaFIT Expanded, although not directly financing the energy renewal operations, aims to promote the energy transition process in a residential context, operating on two fronts; on one hand, by aggregating demand (the owners) and supply (the construction sector and the suppliers) in a single meeting point; on the other, by providing citizens with information, technical, contractual and financial tools, with the objective of increasing their awareness and trust of the solutions and services present on the market. Sinloc has followed this project since its first phase of ideation and presentation to the European Commission within the context of the Horizon Program 2020. In the implementation phase, Sinloc’s role is that of identifying solutions of Smart Finance for Smart Building to accelerate the realization of the interventions and reach the minimum objectives in terms of energy efficiency. The intervention will start within the Municipality of Padua, and then be extended to the whole metropolitan area of Padua and replicated in other two “follower” cities, Timisoara (Romania) and Plovdiv (Bulgaria).

ELENA, the European project for enhancing energy efficiency, turns ten. Together with the European Central Bank, Sinloc has accompanied it on most of this journey. In fact, since 2012 , with the role of Advisor for technical assistance to Local Authorities, Sinloc has been involved in five ELENA projects: the Milan Covenant of Mayors (Lombardy), Chieti Towards 2020 (Abruzzo) and 3L (Veneto) projects, which have been concluded, while the FABER (Province of Bergamo) and AMICA-E (Province of Venice) projects are still under way. The projects have focused on carrying out energy efficiency interventions by means of Energy Performance Contracts (EPC), with guarantee of outcome and of sharing of benefits for the Public Administration. In total, they will initiate around 230 million Euros of investments in Public-Private Partnerships for the energy efficiency of more than 1,000 public buildings and more than 150,000 public lighting systems, for the benefit of more than 350 Local Authorities involved. In the latest tendering procedures awarded, the average energy saving obtained is of 40% for public buildings and 80% for public lighting systems.

Sinloc was chosen by the Carisbo Foundation to test the introduction of elements of assessment of the results in its Fair_Play call for tenders, aimed at promoting the practice of sports and physical education, seen also as opportunities for education and for psychological and physical well-being, by means of interventions aimed at the improvement of sport facilities. The work is carried out in partnership with Fondazione Zancan, with which an important supply system on the subject of result and impact assessment, characterized by a wide array of methods and tools, was developed. Measurement of the benefits created allows each organization to make aware choices and represents an element of transparency: the shared path with the Carisbo Foundation involves identifying relevant dimensions and guiding organizations receiving contributions towards the ability to valorise their actions from both an economic and a social point of view.

The Mare di Sardegna Port Authority published the call for expression of interest in the market to submit project financing proposals, set out with the support of Sinloc. Its purpose is to attract one or more public-private partnership project proposals for the redevelopment and management of the Marine Station and of the harbour areas of the port of Olbia Isola Bianca, realizing a port terminal tailored to the passenger with services in line with the most modern international standards. As the President of the Authority, Professor Massimo Deiana, comments, “the call for tenders is the result of long and careful work to which the whole structure of the Adsp has contributed, in collaboration with the Advisor Sinloc S.p.A., implementing competences pertaining to the legal, administrative, economic, statistical and engineering areas, to analysis of services, technologies, port activities and security. The work carried out has provided, through complex investigation, an in-depth picture of the initial situation and detailed analysis of the needs of the Port on a 20-year projection. As from today, we shall attract the attention of the main world operators, from North to South, from the United States to China, to the Olbia port terminal”. According to Assoporti statistics, in 2018 the port of Olbia confirmed its status as number one Italian passenger port, with more than 2.7 million ferry passengers. Furthermore, in 2018 110,500 cruise ship passengers passed through, as well as more than 5 million tons of goods. Information and updates are available on the dedicated page of the Authority website: http://www.adspmaredisardegna.it/amm-trasparente/7704-2/

Project 3L (Less energy, Less cost, Less impact) has closed, to pass to the implementation phase, wholly dedicated to the subject of energy saving. This is announced by the principal, the Province of Padua, and the advisors: Sinloc Spa, the international Law firm Gianni Origoni Grippo Cappelli & Partners and Cooprogetti. The province also acted as coordinator of the provinces and of the municipalities of Padua, Rovigo and Belluno. The project has been defined a reference model and, as such, has received the acclaim of the European Commission and of the European energy authorities. It is capable of showing definitive data of great relevance, starting from average energy saving of around 40% for public buildings and 70% for lighting. The project, in fact, focused on the sectors of energy efficiency for public buildings, public lighting and district heating. Furthermore, thanks to the intervention of Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova, it has obtained support from the Elena Fund of the European Investment Bank for roughly 2 million Euros and has generated investments for 72 million, involving around 60 Municipalities of the provinces of Padua, Rovigo and Belluno. Energy efficiency is a theme of fundamental importance for Local Bodies, from here the relevance of the 3L Project, which shall lead to increasing the energy efficiency of 330 public buildings and 37,000 lighting points, corresponding to potential savings of around 5 million per year and lower atmospheric emissions, equivalent to 11,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

After having won the call for tenders, Sinloc supported Taranto Local Health Service through the provision of the Cost-Benefit Analysis of the future Martina Franca Health District. Sinloc’s activity has enabled estimation of the socio-economic impacts linked to centralization of the functions in a single modern structure, evaluating how much this project responds to the needs of the Local Health Service of reducing management costs, of improving the efficiency and quality of the service offered, at the same time reducing environmental impacts of the structure.