Energy: More cost-effective technologies to accelerate transition

Accelerating the use of renewable energy sources, reducing the costs of energy technologies and increasing energy efficiency, are the objectives of the approximately €15 million European RISEnergy ^[1] project, which involves 17 partners, including ENEA, 37 affiliated entities and 14 service providers from 22 countries. The project aims to facilitate synergies among industry, research centers and institutions in the following sectors: photovoltaics, solar thermal and solar thermal energy, hydrogen, biofuels, offshore wind, ocean energy, integrated grids and storage. ENEA contributes to the project with the biomass gasification pilot plant at the Trisaia Research Center (Matera) and with the Smart Grid and Energy Networks Laboratory at the Portici Research Center (Naples), both part of the Department of Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources (TERIN).

The project provides for 50,000 hours of access to state-of-the-art facilities, both in person and virtually, by consolidating activities, services and infrastructure under a single operational entity. Through collaboration across various technological fields—including digitization and data management via cutting-edge ICT platforms—the initiative aims to support innovation in energy storage, thereby contributing to a decarbonized, flexible and resilient energy system.

“Participation in the RISEnergy project is an opportunity to enhance and optimize the use of the state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories that we have built and kept operational over time” pointed out ENEA researcher Francesco Zimbardi of TERIN at the Trisaia Research Center.

Trisaia hosted researchers from the German chemical company C&CS (Catalysts & Chemical Specialitie), who chose the pilot gasification plant to test innovative catalysts. In the coming months, a research group from the Lithuanian Energy Institute will be welcomed; their project, recently approved by the RISEnergy evaluation committee, focuses on the development of advanced materials for hydrogen production from residual biomass.

“Such collaborations, of high strategic value, would be extremely complex, if not impossible, outside of a project like RISEnergy, which guarantees not only the necessary financial resources but also a stimulating and collaborative operational environment”, concluded Zimbardi.