Eni has drawn up a road map that aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in harmony with the UN 2030 Agenda and the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Technology and digitalization play a central role in accelerating the transformation of the energy company. The new technological solutions identified by Eni are numerous: starting with systems capable of converting wave motion into electricity, immediately available, for off-shore plants or to power coastal communities not connected to the grid (ISWEC – Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter, a system developed by Eni with the Polytechnic of Turin and with the spin-off of the same Polytechnic Wave for Energy). Also worth mentioning is the Hoop project, a new sustainable chemical recycling technology developed by Versalis to transform mixed plastics into new raw materials to produce new polymers identical to the original ones. The organic photovoltaic (OPV) is also of importance. It is a solar technology based on flexible and light solar panels on which very thin layers of photoactive materials are deposited that perform the same function as silicon.
The real “game changer” of the world energy panorama, however, will be magnetic confinement fusion. In this context, Eni is engaged with the American company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a spin-out of MIT, in which the six-legged dog has invested since 2018. The first reactor prototype should be available in 2025 and will be called SPARC. At the beginning of September 2021 CFS successfully conducted the world‘s first test of the magnet with HTS (High Temperature Superconductors) superconducting technology. The technology under test is of particular relevance in the framework of research on magnetic confinement fusion as it represents an important step in creating the conditions for controlled fusion, and this makes it possible to use it in future demonstration plants. S.R.