Terna unveils the new Development Plan: investments rise up to 18 billion euros

Sustainability, reducing emissions, constantly increasing the performance of infrastructure and integrating renewable energy for the green transition: these are the four cornerstones on which Terna has founded its 2021 Development Plan for the Italian electricity grid, presented on 7 July in Rome by CEO Stefano Donnarumma and Chairwoman Valentina Bosetti. From the Tyrrhenian Link to the Italy-Austria connection, and even the modernisation of the grid in southern Italy: this assortment of projects has set ambitious targets to reach over the next ten years. The company has decided to invest heavily in these targets, for a total amount of €18.1 billion, 25% more than previously anticipated.

As the CEO of Terna explained, the new 2021 Development Plan involves “over the next ten years, a strong acceleration in investments, the highest ever, which reflects the important historical moment we are living through: to achieve the decarbonisation objectives that Italy and Europe have set it is in fact necessary not only to have a clear vision of the future, but also and above all to know how to plan and carry out all the projects that are indispensable to the material implementation of the energy transition, of which Terna is the director”.

The strategy met with the approval of the President of ARERA (the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment) Stefano Besseghini, who also appeared at the presentation and who described it as “an exercise in efficient planning with a cost-benefit analysis that can not only guide us technically and in terms of infrastructure and upgrading at zero cost, but which also allows us to carefully evaluate the benefits that each individual initiative is able to bring to the system”. Essential characteristics for a project that “beckons us towards a vision of the future".

The Minister for Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, was also satisfied, stating that the electrification of consumption represents “the starting point” for the green revolution that Italy and the European Union need in order to survive: "Given our current technologies there is only one way forward: to increase the performance of the electricity produced and to produce energy not by burning fossil fuels, but by using renewable sources. There is no other way”, the Minister stated.

But what exactly does the 2021 Development Plan, which the company will update every two years, envision for the years ahead? Terna has decided to focus on 30 strategic infrastructures which will serve to achieve 4 objectives: strengthening exchanges between market areas for a greater integration of renewable sources; resolving critical issues and enabling greater electrification of metropolitan areas; creating synergy with other systems; and strengthening cross-border interconnections.

More specifically, there are 5 main projects which will be completed under the plan: the 380 kV 'Colunga-Calenzano' power line between Bologna and Florence (€170 million); the 380 kV, 170 km-long ‘Chiaramonte Gulfi-Ciminna’ line (€300 million); the 380 kV ‘Paternò-Pantano-Priolo’ power line (€70 million) in Sicily, which will enable an increase in the safety and flexibility of the grid between Catania and Syracuse; the 380 kV ‘Bisaccia-Deliceto’ line between the provinces of Avellino and Foggia which, thanks to an investment of €40 million, will enable better use of the energy produced by the wind farms between Apulia and Campania; and the project for the redevelopment of the 150 kV electricity grid on the Sorrento peninsula, which will allow Terna to eliminate almost 60 km of obsolete overhead power lines.

Terna’s plan is one element of a broader process of developing the energy infrastructure which will lead the country towards a more sustainable system, within the context of the European Green Deal framework. In addition to the major works which are planned, the development of the electrical infrastructure also focuses on the harmonisation of the grid in the South, where the greatest development of renewable energy sources is expected to take place, with the Northern grid, where consumption is greatest.

Of the infrastructures which will come into service, the now-famous Tyrrhenian link stands out: this undersea cable connects three Regions (Campania, Sicily and Sardinia), enabling the closure of Sardinia’s coal-fired power plants and the highest-polluting thermoelectric plants in Sicily, while at the same time contributing to the development of renewable energy. Another fundamental step will be the restructuring of infrastructure in the main metropolitan areas of the country, and the construction of two new undersea cables: the first will connect the Island of Giglio with Tuscany, while the second will link the Island of Favignana to Sicily.

Finally, substantial investments are planned to improve cross-border interconnections and make Italy an electricity hub for Europe and the Mediterranean area. This translates into €1.2 billion in resources being earmarked for the 1000 MW connection between Italy and Switzerland, whose construction is linked to the project for the rationalisation of the high voltage grid in Valtellina and Valchiavenna. Meanwhile, €750 million will be devoted to funding the construction of a new 500 MW, 200 km-long undersea cable with Greece.

From an environmental perspective, the impacts of Terna’s decade-long commitments promise to be significant: the company predicts a reduction in CO₂ emissions of 5.6 million tonnes per year, double the drop set out in the previous plan, and the demolition of 4,600 km of obsolete infrastructures, 800 km more than previously intended.

Terna has also chosen to prioritise transparency in the development of infrastructure, allowing citizens to follow the progress of the operations planned for the electricity grid thanks to the “Grid Development” App. The application will make it possible to consult the schedule of essential works for the energy transition, and even to explore the extra content provided in the different sections using augmented reality.

"We are facing a monumental challenge”, commented Minister Cingolani, discussing the energy transition projects required of Italy. A challenge which Terna has taken on with an ambitious and far-sighted Development Plan.