An opportunity to discuss the potential of renewable energy communities and the crucial role of thermal storage technologies, in which Magaldi Green Energy is a pioneer in designing and building MGTES, the world's first sand-based TES - Thermal Energy Storage solution, a sand battery for the storage and on-demand release of renewable energy, addressing grid instability and intermittency of solar and wind power.
‘Le Comunità Energetiche – Insieme contro la crisi’ meeting (Energy Communities - Together Against the Crisis) took place during the 21st summer seminar of the Symbola Foundation, titled ‘Coesione è competizione’. This annual gathering brings together prominent figures from Italy's energy, industrial, institutional, media, and entrepreneurial sectors. Its purpose is to assess the state of innovation in Italy, while promoting collaboration, resilience, and meaningful discussions among companies, communities, and individuals dedicated to sustainability and breakthroughs.
Innovating sustainability: Exploring TES – Thermal Energy Storage - and Renewable Energy Communities in the Italian industrial scenario.
The seminar was an opportunity for Letizia Magaldi, Executive Vice President of Magaldi Green Energy, to talk about the potential of renewable energy communities for industries, counting on TES - Thermal Energy Storage solutions and Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) to benefit the public and the community. Letizia Magaldi also shared the experience of the first energy community implemented in an industrial area in Italy, specifically in the Buccino area, Salerno, where the Magaldi Group has its manufacturing plant.
Magaldi, Enel X, FICEI and seven SMEs pioneered first industrial renewable energy community in Salerno.
"The Italian industrial areas – Letizia Magaldi said - are poised to become some of the most efficient centers of renewable energy production, due to their infrastructural characteristics and untapped energy potential. Magaldi, along with Enel X Italia, FICEI and seven Italian SMEs, has established the first Renewable Energy Community (REC) in an Industrial Area, in the province of Salerno. Enel X has mapped the energy consumption of all participants: a complex planning process that has served as a chance for different companies to come together, pooling their production and consumption needs, while also considering the different vocations and seasonality of some companies. Together, we have signed the first ‘Charter of the Renewable Energy Community’ in an Industrial Development Area in Italy, wherein our innovative MGTES thermal energy storage battery, composed solely of steel and sand, plays a central role. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technologies are crucial for the development and generation of renewables, serving as a vital infrastructure for managing energy flows within the RECs”.
Localized energy generation: Salerno's Unprecedented Achievement in RECs.
“The message I bring here is yes, it can be done, energy communities can also be industrial – stated Letizia Magaldi - and we will create them in many other parts of Italy. Instead of constructing plants in multiple locations and creating grid infrastructures, which can lead to congestion on power grids and primary substations, it is possible to generate and consume energy in the same place. Moreover, the added value of Renewable Energy Communities is that it can grow over time. In Salerno, with invaluable support and involvement from FICEI and its esteemed president Antonio Visconti - as industrial park managers and infrastructure developers -, we accomplished something unprecedented in Italy. By collaborating with them, we not only achieved a significant milestone but also fostered partnerships with public institutions, like the municipality and the wastewater treatment plant. Through the establishment of a primary substation, we are set to expand our operations and incorporate schools into our initiative. Industrial Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) and innovation, such as our MGTES – Magaldi Green Thermal Energy Storage, offer companies and industries a chance to actively connect with the local community, freeing untapped energy potentials”.
