Comunicati: Press release

Investments of around 230 million euro are planned with a positive impact on the area and a significant effect on local GDP. Around 1,900 new jobs are expected to be created in the supply chain.

La Spezia, 29 November 2022 – The contracting authority Municipality of La Spezia officially awarded Italgas the tender for the management of natural gas distribution service in the “La Spezia” Area, which includes the main town and 32 municipalities in the province.

The awarding of the “Atem area”, which currently has about 110,000 customers served, allows Italgas to provide continuity of service management and actively contribute to the efficiency and decarbonization of consumption through investments of about 230 million euro.

The major investment plan will be able to produce a significant effect on local GDP with positive outcomes on employment as well, thanks to the creation of about 1,900 new jobs in the supply chain.

The extension of the service to new territories will also allow important savings in bills that can be quantified at about 218 million euros, over the 12 years of the concession, due to the lower cost of natural gas compared to other fuels used today. Economic advantages in addition to environmental benefits calculated in an overall reduction of atmospheric emissions of about 390,000 tons of CO2 and 6,000 tons of particulate matter.

Among the interventions envisaged in the Italgas plan are:

• the laying of approximately 400 kilometers of new grids and the upgrading of about 40 kilometers of network to reach areas not yet served, in order to make natural gas available to around 9,000 new customers.
• the complete modernization of 100 kilometers of networks, over 400 intermediate plants which will be equipped with monitoring and remote control systems.
• the completion of the plan to replace traditional meters with latest generation meters, so that all customers in the Area will be equipped with them.

Pier Lorenzo Dell’Orco, CEO of the subsidiary Italgas Reti, commented: “The awarding of the Atem area La Spezia is an important result not only for the Company, whose tender offer was judged better than its competitors 2i Rete Gas and Ireti, but also for the territory, which will benefit from important investments for the building of the networks and energy of the future, starting from the first months of 2023: an even more extensive and widespread network able to bring natural gas in areas not yet served and to receive renewable gases such as biomethane and green hydrogen. After the Turin 1 and 2, Valle d’Aosta and Belluno Atem areas, this fifth tender awarded to Italgas raises to more than 1.1 billion euros the total value of planned investments in the territories concerned, confirming the strategic value of gas tenders for the development of the territories and for the important effect on the country’s GDP.”

• The main distributor of natural gas in Italy and the third in Europe, inaugurates a privileged access point to the world of innovation in the United States within the “Mind the Bridge Innovation Center” in San Francisco.
• This strategic move of collaboration with Mind the Bridge aims at getting in touch with the most interesting US startups, intercepting emerging technological trends in specific areas of interest, and strengthening positioning and scouting skills at an international level.
• Italgas will be officially debuting at the “Scaleup Summit” in San Francisco, scheduled from 17th to 21st October, with a Bootcamp dedicated to meeting the most interesting startups.

Milan, San Francisco, 13 September 2022 – Italgas, the first distributor of natural gas in Italy and third in Europe, opens an Innovation Antenna in Silicon Valley, as part of the “Mind the Bridge Innovation Center” in San Francisco.

The initiative is part of the “Ideas 4 Italgas” program launched in 2020, which aims to find the best US startups. The ultimate goal is enhancing research activities and strengthening the innovation efforts to contribute towards continuous improvement of the Group’s performance.

The goal of this collaboration with Mind the Bridge, an international platform that advises and supports companies and government organizations in the field of open innovation, is to create the ideal conditions for Italgas to get in touch with the most interesting startups and scaleups in the United States. Furthermore, to spot and intercept upcoming technological trends and finally strengthen the scouting capabilities both in Silicon Valley and internationally.

Initially, the focus will be on identifying conditions and projects that are able to strengthen the digital transformation of Italgas. The Italgas Innovation Antenna will officially debut at the Mind the Bridge Scaleup Summit in San Francisco, 17-21 October. A Bootcamp will be organized to meet the startups that can work with Italgas to contribute to its digitization plans, operational efficiency, and sustainability goals, according to the company’s 2022-2028 Strategic Plan.

“Gas distribution sector is historically very traditional – commented the CEO of Italgas Paolo Gallo – we acted as pioneers in terms of technological innovation by leveraging our digital factory, open innovation, and venture capital. Through continuous scouting, we encountered important trends that allowed us to grow, innovate and enhance our contribution to the ecological transition. Therefore, we are happy to strengthen our presence in the world’s largest innovation cluster. This will give new impetus to our journey of transformation.” 

“Over the past few years Italgas has been investing in shaping a new digital mindset by capillary mapping the digital skills within the company and involving its team in new innovation processes – commented Alberto Onetti, Chairman of Mind the Bridge – The next challenge is to scale up the collaboration with startups in quality and quantity. Opening an Innovation Antenna in San Francisco is a decisive step in this direction. This will give Italgas direct access to the world’s largest source of innovation: Silicon Valley.”

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Italgas

Italgas is the first operator in Italy in the distribution of gas and the third in Europe: it manages a distribution network that extends for a total of over 75,000 kilometers through which, over the last year, it has distributed approximately 9 billion cubic meters of gas to 7.8 million users.

The Group holds 1,899 concessions, with a historical presence in the country’s major cities including Turin, Venice, Florence, and Rome.

For more info: www.italgas.it

Mind the Bridge

Mind the Bridge is a global organization that provides innovation advisory services for corporate and government organizations. With HQs in San Francisco (CA) and offices in Barcelona, London, Milan, Los Angeles and Seoul, Mind the Bridge has been working as an international bridge at the intersection between Startups and Corporates since 2007. It scouts, filters, and works with 10,000+ startups a year supporting global corporations in their innovation quest with open innovation initiatives that translate into curated deals with startups (licensing, investments, and/or acquisitions). It also provides advisory services and benchmarking on innovation strategy and structure. In collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the 100 y.o. Institution representing more than 45M businesses worldwide, it annually elaborates the “Corporate Startup Stars” Awards – the ranking of the most ‘startup-friendly’ global corporates.

Finally, Mind the Bridge developed an AI-powered platform that enables business matching for startups and corporations, and portfolio promotion for Innovation Agencies and Investors (MTB Ecosystem).

For more info: http://mindthebridge.com  | @mindthebridge

Milan, 28 July 2022 – Reducing the time to introduce new technologies through interaction with an ecosystem that ensures a continuous flow of knowledge to support the achievement of the digitization, operational efficiency and the sustainability targets set in the Italgas 2022-2028 Strategic Plan. With this aim Italgas, the leading operator in Italy and the third in Europe in the natural gas distribution sector, is strengthening its collaboration with SkipsoLabs, a company that provides advisory services and technology platforms for innovation at an international level, through a new initiative dedicated to open innovation.

The initiative is part of the ‘Ideas 4 Italgas’ program launched by the Company in 2020 and addresses the best Startups and Scaleups from around the world with the aim of enhancing research activities and strengthening the contribution of innovation to the improvement of the Group’s performance.

There are two main features of the project: the Co-Innovation Hub and the SkipsoLabs ecosystem platform. The Co-Innovation Hub (an international network of incubators, accelerators, start-ups and scale-ups) will allow Italgas to monitor the innovation ecosystem and activate an Outpost in Tel Aviv, a hybrid presence within the Innovation Hubs in Israel. This strategic approach will enable the company to validate evolutionary scenarios through the innovation and agility of start-ups, fostering and strengthening their growth in the market. The technology platform, on the other hand, will enable the creation and management of Italgas’ innovation ecosystem by bringing together internal and external innovation in a single digital space capable of fostering the involvement of start-ups, employees and suppliers in innovation and digital transformation programs.

Compared to previous editions, the new research will be an ever-active ‘radar’ on technological and business innovations in the following areas: digitalization (cloud, edge computing and IoT devices), analytics and data management, operation & maintenance, network monitoring, metering, sustainability and circular economy, biomethane, hydrogen and synthetic gases.

In the digital transformation process, open innovation has been one of the main drivers of strategic development since the beginning. An approach focused on identifying solutions that can foster growth and sustainable development in daily operations, for the partners involved and the entire gas distribution sector. In many cases, collaboration with start-ups and SMEs has created the conditions for introducing innovation in other areas as well.

This is what is happening with Composite Research (CoRe), the young Italian start-up active in the sector of innovative materials, which presented ‘MadFlex’ at the 2020 call, a technology to create an ultra-light multilayer material capable of repairing gas grids quickly, durably and resiliently. After passing many stress tests at the Italgas laboratory in Asti, “MadFlex” is now being examined by the CIG (Italian Gas Committee) in order to obtain the necessary certifications for large-scale use by all companies in the sector and in the water distribution sector.

This is not the only case. With I-Tes, the large-scale application of special batteries capable of storing heat produced by other sources and reusing it in processes for feeding gas into the network is underway; software from the American company Satelytics will enable the monitoring of networks to be enhanced through the use of satellite images as well; With the Swiss company Amex Sanivar, a study is underway into the possible application of a special film inside gas grids that can make them immediately hydrogen ready; finally, the application of the Norwegian company Tunable will improve the analysis of the composition of distributed gas blends.

Pier Lorenzo Dell’Orco, CEO of Italgas Reti, commented: “Open innovation is a strategic approach that allows companies to grow faster, increase efficiency and, above all, think differently. In the journey of digital transformation that Italgas Group has undertaken in recent years, we have made extensive use of it. It is thanks to continuous scouting activities that we met companies such as Picarro, of which we also became shareholders, and its CRDS technology, the most advanced in the field of gas network monitoring. And this is how we have progressively created an open ecosystem capable of supporting the implementation of the Group’s Strategic Plan and the growth of our partners, as well as the evolution of the entire gas distribution sector.”  

Carlo Soresina, co-founder and CEO of SkipsoLabs, added: “We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Italgas through this innovation program dedicated to a key sector such as gas distribution. Today the ecosystem concept plays a central role in the innovation landscape. Our approach, which includes the involvement of the international network of the Co-Innovation Hub, the activation of a specific outpost in Tel Aviv and the technology platform, will facilitate the meeting of innovative start-ups from all over the world, connecting Italgas to a global innovation ecosystem. This is the right way to experience new evolutionary scenarios and to meet new market challenges”.

The project addresses international Startups and Scaleups (with focus on Europe and Israel) that develop products and services based on sustainable and original business models in line with Italgas’ strategy, and that will be able to offer solutions capable to meet the challenges posed by energy sustainability targets.

Interested startups will be able to register within the Italgas innovation ecosystem through the link https://ideas4italgas.italgas.it/en. The start-ups will be assessed by a committee of experts and, following a further selection process, will have the opportunity to work in close collaboration with the company to start the Co-design phase and define an experiment applicable to the sector.

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Italgas

Italgas is the leading operator in Italy in gas distribution sector and the third in Europe. It manages a distribution network that extends a total of around 75,000 kilometers through which, during the last year, it distributed approximately 9 billion cubic meters of gas to 7.8 million users. The Group holds 1,899 concessions, with a historical presence in the country’s major cities including Turin, Venice, Florence, and Rome.

SkipsoLabs

Founded in 2008, SkipsoLabs is a company that provides software solutions and advisory services for innovation. Starting with the ambitious goal of creating a platform to support and accelerate sustainable innovation worldwide, over the years SkipsoLabs has become one of the leading international players in innovation management, offering cutting-edge programs to companies, universities, government agencies, accelerators and non-profit organizations worldwide. SkipsoLabs’ advisory services help clients identify the best innovation sourcing channels globally, define the right approach to validate and scale products and solutions both within their organization and in the marketplace. SkipsoLabs has an established framework to help identify strategic acquisition or partnership opportunities, to rank innovation and to engage internal management.

Milan, 4 July 2022 – Italgas informs that the annual revision of the ESG rating Moody’s ESG Solutions (formerly known as Vigeo Eris rating), recognized the commitment of the Company with an “Advanced” rating, resulting from an overall improvement of 10 points compared to the result assigned last September. Progress mainly determined by the actions carried out and the further commitments undertaken by the Group in the environmental, social and governance fields.

The rating improvement is a further recognition of the Company’s strong focus on sustainability targets that the 2022-2028 Strategic Plan, recently presented to the market, has revised upwards (-34% in Scope 1 and 2 gas emissions, -30% in Scope 3 emissions, -27% in energy consumption by 2028, baseline 2020).

This recognition follows the confirmation of Italgas as a “constituent” of the MIB ESG Index, the blue-chip index for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) best practices of Borsa Italiana, part of the Euronext group.

Milan, 11 April 2022 – Italgas informs that the Council of State has rejected the appeal filed by its subsidiary Italgas Reti against the award to another operator of the concession for the natural gas distribution service in the Atem area “Naples 1”. This Atem area counts around 375,000 redelivery points.

The Company is waiting to know the reasons that led the Council of State to adopt this ruling.

Edison, with this transaction, enters directly into the retail market in Sardinia, increases its customer base becoming the first operator on the island in the sale of gas, with the aim of contributing to the development of the retail market, alongside the methanisation process of the Region promoted by Italgas with the support of Marguerite.

Milan, 1 April 2022 – Edison, Italgas and Marguerite signed a binding agreement under which Edison will acquire a majority stake in Gaxa, a company 51.85% owned by Italgas and 48.15% by Marguerite, active in the Sardinian retail gas market, through the supply of natural gas, LPG and propane-air for civil uses. The new shareholding structure of Gaxa will thus be composed of Edison for 70%, Italgas for 15.56% and Marguerite for 14.44%. The transaction is aimed at strengthening Gaxa’s commercial presence and development opportunities in consideration of the important investment plan for Sardinia promoted by Italgas with the construction of new “digital native” distribution networks after having completed the conversion of those fuelled by LPG and propane air to methane.

“Edison, through this transaction, in line with its strategy of presence in the territory, expands its position in the retail market in Sardinia – says Massimo Quaglini CEO of Edison Energia – Our goal is to bring our experience on the retail market gained after years of “free market commercialization regime” by applying a business model focused on centrality and proximity to the customer and the quality of service. – continues Quaglini – And I am sure that we will succeed, through the enhancement of Gaxa’s skills, to bring our reliability to customers in Sardinia by offering them, in addition to the supply of gas and electricity, also a series of other innovative solutions and additional services”.<

“The presence of Edison within the shareholders’ structure of Gaxa and in the Sardinian energy market – commented Lorenzo Romeo, Chief Strategy Officer of Italgas – is recognition of the value and strategic nature of our ‘Sardinia project’. Edison’s undisputed expertise in the retail markets will further boost Gaxa’s growth and provide a strong incentive to the development of the island’s important methanisation plan, in which Italgas continues to invest significant resources to ensure that Sardinian citizens have access to a sustainable energy source“.

“The investment in Gaxa by a market leader such as Edison – says Fabio Siragusa, Managing Director of Marguerite – confirms the value of the ‘Sardinia project’ and the partnership with Italgas to promote the ecological transition of the island. We are enthusiastic about supporting strategic partners such as Edison and Italgas to foster the growth of Gaxa as the main retail energy operator in Sardinia”.

Gaxa, a company active in the Sardinian retail gas market, holds a portfolio of more than 41,000 retail customers. It was the first sales company in Sardinia’s history to supply natural gas to the citizens. The majority of customers are located in the main Sardinian provinces and, thanks to the ongoing methanisation process, a commercial development plan is expected that will cover customers located in over 100 municipalities. Today Gaxa, with its 18 employees at the offices in Cagliari and Sassari, carries out its activity in the region through 24 partner stores. The presence of Edison, within the structure of Gaxa as controlling shareholder, will allow to further develop its customer portfolio by being able to count, in terms of products, services and know-how, on the skills of a market player able to ensure a greater quality of service to its consumers.

The completion of the transaction is expected by June 2022, once the only condition precedent  of the contract will be satisfied.

Edison in Sardinia

Sardinia is a key territory for Edison, which operates in the Sardinian territory supporting the Public Administration with energy services for hospitals and public lighting and through the management of 2 wind farms for a total installed capacity of almost 96 MW and 8 photovoltaic plants for a total capacity of over 17 MW. Edison has a growth plan that attributes key importance to Sardinia, where it will implement a plan for the development of energy from renewable sources. Edison is also studying a project for the construction of a coastal small LNG deposit in Oristano.

 The Italgas Group in Sardinia

Italgas operates in Sardinia through its subsidiary Medea. Its assets consist of around 1,500 km of “native digital” natural gas networks, of which more than 1,300 km are already in operation; a cutting-edge infrastructure that will also receive and distribute renewable gases such as biomethane, synthetic methane and green hydrogen. In addition, there are approximately 9 km of LPG-fuelled networks that will soon be converted, and approximately 600 km of propane-fuelled networks in the municipalities of Cagliari, Sassari, Nuoro and Oristano that will be converted to natural gas in the coming years.

Marguerite in Sardinia

On 18 December 2019, Marguerite acquired a 48.15% stake in Medea and Gaxa and established a partnership with Italgas for the methanisation of Sardinia, through the construction of new digital gas distribution networks and the conversion of existing networks to natural gas.