Italy accelerates on hydrogen:work begins on a Gigafactory on the outskirts of Milan and the first experiment to produce "green" steel

If produced with clean sources, hydrogen represents one of the best solutions for reducing emissions from the most energy-intensive (and polluting) industries.

There is also hydrogen, the lightest and most abundant element in the entire universe, among the protagonists of the Italian and European energy transition.Brussels' first steps to encourage its use date back to 2003, well before the EU geared up to combat the advance of climate change with the maxi-legislative package of the Green Deal.In those years, it was there Romano Prodi to lead the European Commission.And it was he who insisted that the Old Continent equip itself with a «Platform European technology for hydrogen and fuel cells".Twenty years later, some of hydrogen's potential has turned out to be less promising than expected - for example on cars -, but the first chemical element in the periodic table continues to be a fundamental ingredient in the range of solutions necessary to reduce climate-changing emissions and slow down global warming.

The hydrogen hub on the outskirts of Milan

Italy is one of the European countries that is most gearing up to create a real hydrogen supply chain.One of the main contributions will come from Cernusco sul Naviglio, on the outskirts of Milan, where De Nora is building a Gigafactory which, once the works are completed, will become the largest green hydrogen production hub in the entire national territory.The building, of approximately 25 thousand square metres, will mainly deal with the production of electrolysers, i.e. those devices which, powered by electricity, allow the water molecules to be broken and the hydrogen to be separated from the oxygen.The project was co-financed with European funds from Next Generation Eu - so far with 32 million euros, but it could become 63 - and should be completed by the end of 2025.

What the Gigafactory will do

The largest Gigafactory in Italy bears the signature of Memo Colucci, a Milanese architect born in 1964.«To create it I was inspired by Adriano Olivetti's idea:create an industrial area that is friendly to the city and the surrounding area", explains the architect.And given that it is a key project for the Italian ecological transition, the construction of the factory also followed rigorous sustainability standards, starting from the choice to build on a former industrial area now in disuse and not on virgin land.«We reused the materials from the old buildings, avoiding many truck trips», specifies Colucci.And he adds:«For heating we will use geothermal energy, while there will be a photovoltaic system to cover at least part of the factory's energy consumption».

The factory will be just 200 meters from the subway and is also connected to the center of Cernusco by a cycle path.«There will also be a company museum, to communicate the potential of green hydrogen to students and others», explains the architect.As for the factory itself, there will be three main production areas:one intended for the production of electrolysers, one for the production of electrolysis components and one for the specific treatment of water.By 2030, the Cernusco sul Naviglio Gigafactory will reach a production capacity of 2 gigawatt equivalents, helping the rest of the European Union to achieve the green hydrogen production targets set in the RePowerEU programme:10 million tonnes per year by 2030.

The different types of hydrogen

The great advantage of hydrogen is that, however it is used, it does not produce polluting emissions, but simple water vapour.It is also a very efficient energy carrier, which makes it ideal for storing excess energy produced from renewable sources.However, there is also a problem:hydrogen is almost always found bonded to other elements, such as oxygen (in water) or carbon (in methane).This means that hydrogen needs to be produced:by breaking down water or through chemical transformations starting from fossil fuels.The different ways in which hydrogen can be produced obviously have very different impacts in terms of emissions.

"Brown" hydrogen, for example, is obtained through the gasification of coal and is the most polluting of all.Then there is "grey" hydrogen (obtained from gas) and "blue" hydrogen (produced by capturing and storing carbon dioxide).However, hydrogen can also be produced through the process of electrolysis, which separates the hydrogen and oxygen atoms present in the water molecule.If the electricity used for this process comes from a nuclear power plant it is called "pink" hydrogen, if it comes from renewable sources it is called "green" hydrogen.

Heavy industry and the case of the former Ilva

Once produced, hydrogen can generate electricity in so-called "fuel cells", a technology used today in some cars, but more expensive and 2.5 times less efficient than batteries.The best use for hydrogen is in industrial sectors hard-to-abate, i.e. those in which electrification is technically difficult and uncompetitive.These are sectors that are particularly energy intensive and where it is more complex to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as the steel, ceramic, cement, chemical industry, but also naval and air transport.In July 2024, Tenaris Dalmine – world leader in tube production – became the first company in Italy to use hydrogen in a steel plant.A trial launched in collaboration with Snam and Tenova, which will have an initial duration of six months.The project plans to use the hydrogen produced on site to power a burner, installed in a furnace for the hot rolling of seamless tubes.In recent years, hydrogen has also been proposed as a possible solution to power the future electric ovens of the former Ilva.A recipe which, if put into practice, would allow the historic Taranto steelworks to continue producing, but without injecting other poisons into the atmosphere (in addition to dust).

Other ongoing projects

Regardless of how the conversion of the former Ilva will end, there are several projects underway in Italy that closely concern the hydrogen sector.One of the main ones concerns the creation of 54 Hydrogen Valleys, i.e. "hydrogen valleys" in which to install electrolysers - just like those produced in the Cernusco sul Naviglio Gigafactory - near industrial sites.Currently, there are 54 ongoing hydrogen projects that have received PNRR funding.At the end of 2023, the Lombardy Region presented the first hydrogen train in Italy in Milan, which will enter service in Valcamonica between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, along the Brescia-Iseo-Edolo line, which is not electrified and today only trains powered by fossil fuels pass through.Then there is SouthH2 Corridor, the project co-financed by the European Union and developed by Italy together with Germany and Austria.The gas pipeline, over 3 thousand kilometers long, will connect North Africa with Europe and will allow the import of 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030.