In the presence of the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, the Chief Executive Officers of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Fabrizio Palermo, of Fincantieri, Giuseppe Bono , of Terna, Luigi Ferraris, and of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, signed this week in Ravenna an agreement to set up a company for the development and manufacturing of wave-energy power plants.

ISWEC pilot project, an innovative system that transforms energy generated by waves into electricity, into an industrial scale power station, making its application and use immediately available.

The partnership agreement will focus on two companies: the companies will develop a business model and define a deployment plan for Italy. At the same time, the first ISWEC installation will be completed near Eni's Precious platform in the Strait of Sicily in the Gela offshore formal constitution of the new company, starting with the implementation in Italy's minor islands first, and abroad at a later stage.

Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi commented: 
“This is a strategic agreement for decarbonisation. On the basis of those skills, we set up and installed the first industrial application of ISWEC in record time for this sector. The collaboration with three Italian excellences like CDP, Terna and Fincantieri,

CDP will promote the project by focusing, together with the other parties, managing the institutional relations with the national and local establishments. Moreover, together with each of the parties involved, it will evaluate financial profiles and the most suitable forms of financial support within the project.

CEO Fabrizio Palermo commented: 
“This agreement, as a result of collaboration among companies in which the CDP Group has a stake, intends to develop an extremely innovative technology. This system will generate value both locally and for the whole community, and is consistent with our strategy that aims at directing our activities and investments towards the support of the energy transition and against climate change ".

Fincantieri will offer its industrial and technical shipbuilding skills for the development and deployment of the first "full scale" industrial application.

CEO Giuseppe Bono remarked: 
“This large-scale industrial and technological cooperation, which sees our company working together with the likes of Eni, Terna and CDP, opens a new frontier in Italy for the implementation of renewable energy, while managing to enhance our Country's morphology at the same time. Fincantieri is recognized as the leading authority in the maritime and maritime field and we are confident that, thanks to the synergies among the parties, this state of the art project will mark a turning point for the sustainable development of the country."

Terna will contribute with its industrial and technical know-how applied to the development of the first “full scale” industrial application and its integration with the power grid.

CEO Luigi Ferraris said: 
“The initiative launched in the association with ENI, CDP and Fincantieri It's an important partnership that, using new enablers, will help us boost our country's role in the European energy system, in an increasingly decarbonised and sustainable scenario."

In fact, offshore assets, as well as providing fully renewable energy to remote, unconnected to the grid places such as minor islands, where the deployment plan will mostly focus on at this stage.

Italy will benefit from a number of significant advantages: power wave energy can be implemented capitalizing on the coastline of the country, with an environmental impact even lower than the main renewable energy technologies developed on the mainland.

Wave power energy can be invaluable for the development of the domestic industry with a high-tech, high added value turnover.

Link to Eni Italy country profile