Category: Press Release

Next Monday the official activation of the conversion to methane gas of the networks of 36 municipalities in Basins 7, 9 and 22

Alghero (Sassari), 29 July 2020 – Methane in Sardinia is finally a reality. The first natural gas will in fact be distributed on the island from Monday, August 3 in Alghero, with the commissioning of the network part of Petraia, the area close to the seafront in via Lido.

At the same time, with the sending of the communications to the administrations involved, technical activities for the conversion to methane of the distribution networks of the 36 municipalities in Basins 7, 9 and 22 currently fed with LPG also began. The conversion plan foresees the completion of activities between 2020 and the first half of 2021, preferring periods of the year when the climate is still sufficiently mild.

“The beginning of the distribution of methane in Sardinia – commented Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo – is a historic moment for the island, its communities and the whole of Italy. And I am proud that it is Italgas, the company that with its almost two centuries of history has always accompanied the development of the country. Sardinia is the most effective example of our ability to innovate and make investments in the short term. We have completed 65% of the 1,100 kilometres of the total network and – after Alghero – an increasing number of people will be able to take advantage of the important benefits that methane guarantees, starting with savings in bills of up to 30%. In fact, in recent months in the basins where we operate we have already collected more than 35,000 requests for connections, demonstrating a constantly growing demand and a sign of a need that we want to satisfy in a short time”.

The section affected by the first commissioning, which will be carried out by tanker wagon, extends for more than 6.5 kilometres, along which more than 250 preparations have already been made for the same number of connection requests signed.

 

Alghero is part, together with Olmedo, of Basin 6 for which 97 kilometres of network are planned, 63 of which have already been built in accordance with Italgas’ plans to build “native digital” networks on the island, i.e. equipped with integrated sensors, remote control and proprietary applications developed in the Italgas Digital Factory, as well as preparation for the installation of optical fibre to serve Italgas networks and telecommunications operators.

As far as LPG to methane covers are concerned, the operational plan foresees the completion of the activities by 2020 for the Municipalities of Putifigari (Basin 7), Berchidda, Ittireddu, Tula, Ozieri (Basin 9), Cardedu, Esclalaplano, Urzulei (Basin 22); in the first half of 2021 in the remaining municipalities of Basins 7 (Cargeghe, Ittiri, Muros, Ossi, Tissi, Uri, Usini) and 22 (Arzana, Bari Sardo, Baunei, Elini, Gairo, Girasole, Ilbono), Lanusei, Loceri, Lotzorai, Osini, Perdasdefogu, Seui, Telana, Tertenia, Tortolì, Triei, Ulassai, Ussassai, Villagrande Strisaili) with extension also to the municipality of Pattada (Basin 10).

In all Municipalities, the activities will be preceded by public meetings to explain to residents how the work will be carried out, what to do to activate the supply of natural gas, provide all the information for a better use of the service.

Through Medea, the Group’s distribution company, Italgas is present in 17 of the 38 basins into which Sardinia is divided, including the main capitals. Italgas began operating on the island in 2017 through the acquisition of several operators and concessions. As part of an investment plan from 500 million euros to 2025, the company has planned the construction of about 1,100 kilometers of “native digital pipelines. The works are in an advanced state in all the concession areas, for a total of over 680 kilometres of network laid. An intervention which, in addition to the future benefits associated with the use of an economic and sustainable energy source such as natural gas for businesses and individuals, has already contributed to the creation of over 600 new jobs.

The Historical Archive of Italgas becomes Heritage Lab thanks to the partnership with the Giorgio Cini Foundation

The Italgas laboratory of knowledge, experimentation and above all innovation applied to historical and cultural heritage is born. Two centuries of history look to the future thanks to digitization.

Turin, July 9, 2020 – Italgas and the Giorgio Cini Foundation announce a partnership aimed at transforming Italgas’ Historical Archives and cultural heritage into a “Heritage Lab”, a laboratory equipped with the most advanced technologies for the 2D and 3D digitization of the historical, industrial, artistic and cultural heritage that the Company has collected and preserved during its almost two centuries of history. An experience that dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century, is intertwined on several occasions with the history of the country and whose deepening will allow an increasingly wide audience to observe from unprecedented angles many of the events that have marked the social, economic and technological evolution of the nation.

The agreement was approved today by the CEO of Italgas, Paolo Gallo, and the President of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, Giovanni Bazoli.

The Giorgio Cini Foundation is a cultural institution that stands out for being, at the same time, a centre of studies, a place of meeting and debate but also a space in which multidisciplinary research projects are developed, aimed at providing new tools for analysis and understanding of the reality around us.

In this sense “Heritage Lab” wants to be a model, unique in Italy, of a digitization archive-laboratory whose aim is not only the recovery and systematization of the historical archive of a large company but also its conversion into a big date of the past and, in this form, its sharing with the community interested in deepening its contents.

The Italgas Archives will thus be able to expand the opportunities for collaboration on a national and international level by developing new archival and historiographical activities and skills, as well as access to important circuits such as the ARCHiVe project (“Analysis and Archiving of Cultural Heritage in Venice”) created in 2018 by the Giorgio Cini Foundation, in collaboration with Factum Foundation and Digital Humanities Laboratory of the École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne, thanks to the support of the Helen Hamlyn Trust, or even the large Time Machine consortium, which includes over 14.000 institutions representing more than 100,000 professionals committed to investigating the past with the aim of mapping Europe’s social, cultural and geographical evolution.

A radical paradigm shift aimed at making the most, thanks to technology, of Italgas’ entire cultural heritage: from the historical library to the newspaper and periodicals library, from museum collections to documentation on the archaeological heritage found during the laying of the gas infrastructure.

Today the Italgas Historical Archive consists of an original nucleus of more than 1,000 linear metres of documents, 6,000 volumes, pamphlets and magazines, 35,000 prints, photographs and posters, 350 period equipment and instruments declared of considerable historical interest by the Italian State and subject to notification and preservation. An ever-growing heritage whose study makes it possible to reconstruct not only the history of the Company and the people who worked there, but above all the links with the country’s main events and the world of energy, the role played in Italy’s industrialisation process, urban development and public services.

“The digital world and the materials stored in museums and historical archives – commented Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo – may seem to be at odds with each other: on the one hand, modernity and dematerialization, on the other hand, material evidence of a past that reaches the present day. The challenge of digital transformation is to identify a path that allows these two worlds to meet and enhance a history that is not only of Italgas but of the entire country. Thanks to the partnership with Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Heritage Lab becomes another important part of our deep digital transformation and with it Italgas confirms itself as a company where innovation is not only applied but also created“.

“We are proud of this prestigious collaboration ” – said the president of the Cini Foundation Giovanni Bazoli. “Two years ago, when we launched ARCHiVe, we set ourselves the goal of transforming it into a national and international reference centre for the conservation and enhancement of Cultural Heritage. The announcement of the Heritage Lab project by Italgas confirms the validity of our decision to promote the creation of ARCHiVe, in the belief that the development of theories and practices for digital enhancement can be a new mission of the Cini Foundation, as a leading institution in the conservation, promotion and dissemination of the values of Italian civilization in the world“.

 

Milan, April 14, 2020 – Italgas Group employees donated the economic equivalent of about 7,000 working hours to the Civil Protection by joining the solidarity campaign “Together for Italy, donate your day to the fight against the Coronavirus”, launched by the Group on March 27.

A gesture of solidarity to contribute directly to the fight against the spread of Covid-19, not only through the daily commitment during the lockdown to ensure continuity and efficiency of services, but also through a donation in support of Civil Protection activities.

Over the two weeks of the initiative, approximately 7,000 hours were collected, to which an equivalent amount was added by the Italgas Group.

The collection is in addition to the donations made in recent days by the Group for the Sacco di Milano, Amedeo di Savoia-Asl Città di Torino, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Policlinico San Matteo di Pavia, Guglielmo da Saliceto di Piacenza, Spallanzani di Roma and Cotugno di Napoli hospitals, as well as for the Civil Defence itself.

Milan, 28 March 2020 – The Italgas Group’s commitment to support organisations in the front line in the fight against the spread of Coronavirus continues and extends to the San Matteo Hospital in Pavia, the Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital in Piacenza, the Spallanzani Hospital in Rome and the Cotugno Hospital in Naples, for each of which the Company has made a donation.

These donations are in addition to those arranged in recent days for the Sacco di Milano, Amedeo di Savoia-Asl Città di Torino and Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova hospitals.

In support of the Civil Protection action, Italgas made a direct donation and also yesterday launched the solidarity campaign “Together for Italy, donate your day to the fight against the Coronavirus”, thanks to which Group employees can allocate the economic equivalent of the hours of their work. The proceeds will be supplemented by an equal amount donated by the Italgas Group and donated to the Civil Protection.

The intent of Italgas through these actions is to make available additional resources both for the Civil Protection and for the hospitals that will be able to allocate the contribution to the strengthening of the microbiology and virology laboratories, the activation of new beds or additional intensive care facilities, the purchase of medical devices and any other activity useful to improve support to the sick.

Milan, 13 March 2020 – A contribution to support the fight against the spread of the Coronavirus. This is what Italgas decided to offer with a donation to the hospitals Amedeo di Savoia-Asl Città di Torino, Sacco di Milano and the Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, three of the many hospitals involved in the front line of the spread of Covid-19.

A sign of solidarity towards excellent health facilities, a gesture of responsibility towards those territories where society is present and operates, allowing these facilities to have more resources to strengthen the microbiology and virology laboratories, activate additional beds or intensive care facilities, acquire medical devices or any other activity useful to cope with the state of emergency.

“In such a complex and critical moment for Italy – commented Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo – we are all called to do our part, as individuals and as a company, and to work to ensure that this challenge can be won together in the shortest possibletime. Since the emergence of the emergency Italgas has taken the necessary measures and measures to protect the health of its people and, at the same time, ensure the continuity of an essential service for the community. With this donation we want to be at the side of doctors and nurses and of all those who face difficulties with energy and a constructive spirit, we want to be part of a large and supportive community“.

In the morning, during a meeting with the European Commission’s DG Energy, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, the six CEOs stressed the importance of technological innovation and digitisation of gas networks in the decarbonisation processes in Europe

Brussels, 30 January 2020 – The Annual General Assembly of GD4S, the body that brings together the six largest gas distribution operators in Europe, has appointed Paolo Gallo (Italgas) President of the Association for 2020.

Italgas is the most important operator in Italy and the third in Europe. With its 4,000 people, it operates a distribution network that covers a total of over 70,000 kilometres through which, over the past year, it has distributed around 9 billion cubic metres of gas to 7.6 million customers. It is listed on the Italian stock market in the FTSE MIB index of Borsa Italiana. Paolo Gallo has been CEO of the company since August 2016.

The GD4S Assembly was preceded in the morning by a meeting with Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director General Energy of the European Commission. During the meeting representatives of GD4S – Paolo Gallo CEO of Italgas (Italy), Ion Manescu, Deputy CEO of Distrigaz Sud Retele (Romania), Denis O’Sullivan, Managing Director of Gas Networks Ireland (Ireland), Nuria Rodríguez Peinado, CEO of Nedgia (Spain), Edouard Sauvage, CEO of GRDF (France) and Gabriel Sousa, CEO of Galp Gás Natural Distribuição (Portugal) – presented the association’s views on the key role of gas networks in achieving the EU’s climate neutrality objective and at the same time deepened the Commission’s intentions and forthcoming legislative initiatives on climate-altering emissions, digital strategy, circular economy and sustainable mobility and their impact on the gas market, in implementation of the European “Green Deal” announced by President Von der Leyen.

During the meeting, DG Jørgensen recognised the importance of the role of gas in the process of transition to a de-carbonised economy and the potential of biomethane and hydrogen distributed through gas networks. She also underlined her management’s commitment to the development of initiatives in this direction and committed to working with GD4S as part of the ongoing energy transition processes.

Two other meetings are also on the CEOs’ agenda today: with Aleksandra Tomczak, member of the cabinet of Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Commission, and with Kitti Nyitrai, from the staff of Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy. On both occasions, members of the association reaffirmed their intention to support climate-changing emissions reduction targets, in line with the European Green Deal and the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) currently being approved.

At the end of the day, Paolo Gallo announced Italgas’ willingness to make its Digital Factory available to GD4S members and to share the results of ongoing experiments on the most advanced technologies adopted by the company.

GD4S – Gas Distributors for Sustainability, based in Brussels, was founded in January 2019. As an association, it is committed to decarbonising the European energy system by 2050 and unlocking the potential of renewable gas and gas networks. Together, the six members of GD4S serve 27.4 million customers, or 20% of the EU gas market.

Milan, December 19, 2019 – Italgas, leader in gas distribution in Italy and Europe, has obtained, for the second consecutive year, the UNI ISO 37001:2016 certification “Management systems for the prevention of corruption” for the holding company Italgas S.p.A., also obtaining its extension to the “anti-corruption governance” of all Group companies, as well as for the subsidiary Italgas Reti S.p.A.

The management system for preventing and combating corruption, adopted on a voluntary basis, has been verified by the independent certification body DNV GL – Business Assurance. After in-depth analyses that have confirmed the adequacy and compliance of the management system with the requirements of the above mentioned standard and its effective application.

The delivery of 37001 certificates took place today during a meeting in Milan, at Italgas headquarters, in the presence of Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo and DNV GL Business Assurance Italia S.r.l. CEO Stefano Crea.

“For a company like ours – commented Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo – the commitment to fight corruption is essential and permeates our daily operations as well as the activities more closely related to the core business. With the confirmation of the certification and its extension to the governance of all Group companies, we are emphasising our attention to the issues of legality, transparency and corporate responsibility and provide a further important signal of integrity to the market and to the more than 1,800 municipalities and 7.6 million users with whom we come into contact every day”.

 

Stefano Crea added: “Italgas represents a business model that perfectly matches the values promoted by DNV GL: trust and reliability, quality and integrity, innovation, ability to team up, care for its stakeholders, strong propensity for innovation and ability to achieve results.  We congratulate a group whose solidity and attention to improvement make it an absolute reference in its sector on a global level and which places management systems – whose principles are applied at all levels of the organization – as one of the cornerstones of its way of doing business“.

Rome, 13 December 2019 – State Police and Italgas today signed a cooperation agreement on the security of information systems and services of particular importance for the country.

The agreement, signed by the Chief of Police – Director General of Public Security Franco Gabrielli and the CEO of Italgas, Paolo Gallo, falls within the scope of the directives issued by the Minister of the Interior to strengthen the prevention of cybercrime through the signing of agreements with operators providing essential services in strategic sectors of the country.

The Postal and Communications Police is, in fact, daily committed to guaranteeing the integrity and functionality of the informatics network of the structures of strategic level for the Country through the National Anti-Crime Informatics Centre for the Protection of the Critical Infrastructures.

Italgas is the main operator in Italy and the third in Europe in the gas distribution sector, operating in over 1,800 municipalities and managing a network that covers a total of over 71,000 kilometres serving 7.6 million users. IT and physical and digital infrastructure security is therefore central to the activities that Italgas carries out every day in the service of the country.

Among the collaboration initiatives provided for by the agreement are the sharing and analysis of information useful for the prevention of possible attacks, the exchange of reports of incidents aimed at identifying possible threats to Italgas infrastructure, an adequate flow of communication aimed at dealing with possible crisis situations.

The agreement represents a significant step in the collaboration between the State Police and Italgas, an important tool for the creation of an effective system to combat cybercrime, based on information sharing and operational cooperation.

At the signing of the convention were also present for the Department of Public Security, the Central Director for the Traffic, Railway, Communications and Special Departments of the Armando Forgione State Police and the Director of the Postal and Communications Police Service Nunzia Ciardi.

Civitella del Tronto (Teramo), 23 September 2019 – Just a few days after returning to the desks, the program for schools in the areas affected by the 2016 earthquake, promoted by the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Government with the collaboration of Italgas, which donated 1,500 computers for the creation of new computer classrooms to implement the school training offer, is back on track.

Symbolic the choice of the Istituto Comprensivo Civitella-Torricella as the venue for the delivery ceremony of the 140 computers intended for schools in Abruzzo: Civitella del Tronto is in fact among the historic villages most affected by the earthquake of 2016.

The initiative, which is part of the protocol signed last December, was illustrated by the Government’s Extraordinary Commissioner, Piero Farabollini, and Italgas’ Head of Institutional Relations and Regulatory Affairs, Nunzio Ferrulli, in the presence of many local mayors and administrators, representatives of the Abruzzo Regional School Office and the school heads of the target schools.

For the Italgas group the project, now in its penultimate stage, is part of a wider program of activities dedicated to the communities and territories where the company is present and operates, with the intention of creating value by offering concrete support to the new generations and more generally to families.

“The objective of reconstruction is also to allow the re-establishment of communities and to do this we must necessarily focus on the young people who must bear witness to it – recalls Commissioner Farabollini – With the Italgas donation, thousands of young people and their families can see the synthesis between memory and future through the medium that connects them par excellence. These computers ideally represent the cultural and social relay needed to look forward with renewed hope. They are a symbol of that network made up of technicians, administrators, politicians and companies that embody the will to do well so that the children connected to the world with these tools remain deeply connected to their mother earth.

“A few days before the start of the new school year – commented Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo – we are pleased to be able to reaffirm our commitment to the territory and the communities served. Even today we want to offer concrete support to young people, school leaders and teachers for the development of curricula that can integrate and deepen issues such as digitization and technological innovation, which are now central to the world of work. Alongside our constant commitment to the continuous improvement of the quality and safety of our services, we want to support the reconstruction of the areas affected by the earthquake by focusing on the new generations and the development of skills and knowledge”.

To date Italgas has distributed 1,160 of the 1,500 computers for the areas affected by the 2016 earthquake. After Lazio, Marche and Abruzzo, the last stage will be in October in Umbria.

Milan, 16 September 2019 – Italgas has been included for the first time in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World. This index globally assesses the capability of the largest listed companies to address the major issues of sustainability

Italgas is the only Italian utility in the gas distribution sector included in DJSI World, the third in the world with the Spanish Naturgy and the Japanese Osaka Gas.

This year, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World is made up of 318 companies, out of a total of more than 3,500 invited to participate. With Italgas in 2019, three other Italian companies were included, bringing the number of Italian companies to 12.

After the recent confirmation in the FTSE4Good, another important recognition for Italgas’ business model inspired by criteria of environmental, social and economic sustainability and focused on constant interaction with the territory of reference. A further sign for the stakeholders of the company’s ability to create value in the medium to long term.