NEWS

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.