Electricity is not only for male engineers

There are more than 800 islands in Italy including small islands, stacks, rocks and inhabited islands. Beyond Sicily and Sardinia, the two largest islands in the Mediterranean, there are almost 80 other islands that are inhabited but lack a connection to the national electricity grid.

The Smart Island Project was established to support the efficiency of the electricity systems in these places. For years now, Terna, the manager of the Italian national transmission grid, has worked to make its experience and know-how available to these smaller islands for the design and execution of low-environmental impact and innovative solutions. «The objective is always the same», says Flaminia Albanese, Business and Operation Analyst at Terna Energy Solution. «Reducing fossil fuel energy in favour of renewables and, above all, helping the smaller islands to participate in the energy transition that Terna is enabling».

Albanese is convinced that within Terna there is not even one person who does not feel involved in the environmental transition project. «Driving energy is more than a slogan for us: it is really the empowerment that binds us together, a language we all speak, a shared direction for Terna and its subsidiaries».

After every new agreement is signed, the team responsible for the business model, which Flaminia Albanese is part of, sets to work, in parallel with the professionals responsible for preparing the technical solution. This is phase of dialogue between engineers and economists: the first group finds the most advanced and innovative project, while the economists make economic and financial assessments, to perfect a profitable long-term business model customised to the client. These two halves, economic and engineering, work side by side to create a project tailor made to each island, while also taking into accounting sustainability objectives in their assessments, including emissions and other negative impacts to be avoided, with the overall goal of creating the most appropriate solution to maximise benefits and reduce environmental impacts.

«Personally, I am really grateful for all the training I had during my first year with Terna. In some courses I learned the basics of engineering, which allowed me to understand the language my coworkers speak, who have different educational and work backgrounds than me. This expanded my knowledge and helped me become part of the Terna world. This was a great opportunity offering incredible enrichment, that allowed me to grow and to better understand my coworkers».

Albanese participated in the creation of the pilot project on the island of Giannutri. A protected natural paradise right in the middle of the Mediterranean which, without tourists, has just 27 residents. However, Giannutri was just the first smart island project. «We have signed memorandums of understanding with the islands of Giglio and Pantelleria», which call for innovative solutions using smart technology to improve energy efficiency and guarantee sustainable development. «These are not solutions you can pick out of a catalogue», every project is tailored to the client’s needs: «This is why our time to market is fairly long - developing the relationship is fundamental!». However, it is precisely the differences and diversity of the people at Terna Energy Solutions that make such complex and variable designs possible. The combination of technological and engineering know-how with economic, financial and marketing experience is a winning one. «Some people think Terna is a company of engineers, most of them men, but that’s not true. Our daily challenge is to speak more languages, to make use of our diversity to maximise benefits for our clients and move forward with a project that units all of our work: the environmental transition».