A premise is a must: there is still a long way to go to “promote” hydrogen as a green fuel capable of replacing fossil fuels. But the race of the Regions, although in no particular order, has begun. And Piedmont will do its part. The boost that came from the possibility of extraordinary funds with the PNRR has stimulated the design phase and could accelerate the development of industrial solutions. Turin and Piedmont can count on some interesting junctions in the hydrogen supply chain which in reality is all to be built, merged into the Hydrogen Valley project which contributes to the allocation of extraordinary resources from the NRP. The protagonists are Iren, Enviroment Park, a technology park owned by the Piedmont Region which has the Open Lab dedicated to the study and development of hydrogen technologies, the Italian Institute of Technology, IIT, which in Turin has launched the Center for Sustainable Technology Future, Acea Pinerolese, alongside industrial players such as Fpt, Cnh Industrial Group, which works on the development of hydrogen-powered powertrain solutions for trucks, Alstom, which will supply six hydrogen fuel cell trains to Ferrovie Nord Milan, and Punch, former GM, which started the Hydrocells branch in Turin to develop hydrogen-based propulsion and energy storage systems. Pieces of a puzzle that is still difficult to put together but that, with a good vision and with some extraordinary resources, could take shape. “The advantage of Piedmont – argues the councilor for Research and Innovation of Piedmont Matteo Marnati – lies in the fact that it has an industrial fabric and some industries ready to convert and start the hydrogen supply chain”. The Region has opened an expression of interest on this front, a sort of mapping has emerged which coincides with a declaration of availability by private individuals. In parallel, there is a bet on the new Energy Plan of the Region which plans to bring, by 2030, the share of renewables from 18 to 30% through investments in photovoltaic fields in abandoned industrial areas.
The first possible application could be that of transport and mobility, at least in the “One Mole of Hydrogen” project which is at the heart of the Hydrogen Valley of Piedmont proposal. The heart of the proposal is represented by two hydrogen production plants powered by renewable energy that Iren could build at the hydroelectric plant in San Mauro Torinese and near the Gerbido waste-to-energy plant. The project envisages a maximum production of hydrogen equal to 6 tons per day, sufficient to power, according to estimates, 280 buses with an average daily distance of 200 kilometers or, alternatively, other services such as a railway line – converted from Diesel to hydrogen – or a fleet of waste collection vehicles or a fleet of logistics operators. The hydrogen hub at Gerbido would have the advantage of being close to the GTT vehicle depot and near SITO, the intermodal area of Orbassano.
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A second reference center for hydrogen in Piedmont could be the Novara area, where there is one of the very few Italian companies that produces silicon wafers and uses hydrogen as a vehicle within the production process. Also in this case, from a supply chain perspective, it is an interesting area due to the presence of chemical companies – which use hydrogen in production processes -, because it is an important logistic center with CIM and because it is a hub for non-electrified railway lines. like Novara-Biella. That of hydrogen – production of fuel cells and electrolysers is a rich supply chain. The challenge is to stimulate companies to position themselves along the value chain.