NextHy in Sicily is at the heart of innovation in green hydrogen

Carlentini, in eastern Sicily, has always been known for its cultivation of blood oranges. But this small Italian town, founded almost 500 years ago by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, is about to make a leap into the future thanks to the innovation of green hydrogen and its applications. In Carlentini, Enel Green Power is creating an innovative facility that will enable many companies, both small and large, to work together for a single goal: to reduce the costs of green hydrogen technology. Not only will hydrogen be produced, stored and transported in an industrial-scale environment, it will also be capitalized on commercially through its sale to industrial companies. “At Enel Green Power we believe that electrification powered by renewable sources offers the simplest and most cost-effective route to decarbonization. In this context green hydrogen will play a key role as a complementary tool for those sectors, such as aviation, shipping and steel, cement and ammonia production, where electrification is not easily or economically sustainable. Why green hydrogen? Because it is the only solution with zero emissions, it offers the simplest system configuration and represents the cheapest option in the near future.” Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power NextHy will be an innovation platform for green hydrogen, connecting up and accelerating the development of the ecosystem for this sustainable technology. Our goal is to speed up the full commercial maturity of all technologies that allow us to produce green hydrogen sustainably and competitively. The new platform will take full advantage of the Catania Innovation Hub&Lab, located just thirty kilometers away. Spanning more than 100,000 square meters, the Innovation Hub&Lab is one of the largest and most advanced industrial innovation districts for renewable technologies worldwide, and is an innovation ecosystem open to universities, startups and businesses. “Just as Silicon Valley is the best place for digital, Etna Valley is becoming the Energy Valley, the best place for the world energy revolution. Here the NextHy initiative was born from theOpen Innovability® full spirit. We are working to build in Sicily a unique infrastructure capable of connecting technology providers, industrial partners, system integrators, research centers, venture capitalists and start-ups from all over the world. An ecosystem, with the aim to accelerate the development of green hydrogen production technologies. That’s the only way at Enel we face climate change: an open approach by fostering innovative technology to reach a fully sustainable energy production”. Ernesto Ciorra, Chief Innovability® Officer Enel The plant created in Carlentini will be equipped with special production areas that will be able to host both complete systems and individual stacks (cells where water molecules are split into oxygen and hydrogen), special areas for storage with innovative liquid and solid systems, and spaces dedicated to testing components like valves and compressors. The tests will be developed jointly with our technological and scientific partners. The lab will be managed with an open approach, a core tenet of Enel’s philosophy, welcoming all interested partners to use the facilities with a vision in line with Enel Green Power’s ambitious targets. The Innovation Hub will focus on looking for potential partners and hosting startups, promoting the involvement and development of the ecosystem (research centers, universities, startups, large companies, etc.), organizing webinars and events with experts and stakeholders, and holding training courses to develop the new skills necessary for the near future. More than 50 startups have been selected, including Nemesys, Solid Power, Enapter, CTS and Test Energy. Meanwhile, collaborations have been launched with cutting-edge national and international research centers – like CNR, ENEA, RINA, EPRI – and with the leading companies in the world of hydrogen production, including Loccioni, McPhy and NextChem/Sapio. The choice of Sicily for the development of the NextHy platform was by no means accidental: the region has an opportunity to become one of the leading actors in decarbonizing the country. The notable presence of solar and wind power plants makes the area a competitive arena, in which several operators are driving progress that could transform Sicily into the engine of Italy’s energy and ecological transition. “Sicily offers benefits in terms of support and development for innovative technologies, the proximity of industrial districts, scientific excellence in innovation and an ambitious regional plan for green hydrogen. For this reason, in Carlentini, near our innovation hub in Catania, we are building an industrial laboratory that is unique worldwide, where we will work together with our partners to make green hydrogen competitive, benefitting the projects we will develop around the world and the entire ecosystem.” Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power

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NextHy in Sicily is at the heart of innovation in green hydrogen

NextHy in Sicily is at the heart of innovation in green hydrogen

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