While Lombardy plans to begin the first three tenders for the assignment of concessions for hydroelectric facilities by the end of the year, Piedmont, which has developed legislation based on the Lombard model, is now waiting for the situation to be resolved. the government’s appeal of the regional law
Even if this snag is resolved with the adjustments to the wording required by the executive, Alberto Cirio’s council will move in a different direction from Attilio Fontana’s. “Unlike Lombardy, which will conduct open tenders, we aim to employ the public-private partnership mechanism, which is now under consideration in light of the revision to the Competitiveness law,” says Councilor Matteo Marnati. In this instance, the current concessionaires might propose an offer that included investments and a relaunch, in front of which the Region would put it out to tender, with the stipulation that the current concessionaire would have pre-emption right under the same terms if a better bid came in “..
A system that, according to the Region’s goals, should give present groupings – “all Italians and some Piedmontese,” as the commissioner emphasizes – more opportunities to keep concessions while preventing a procurement drive by foreign corporations. Attention to maintaining within national borders the management of a strategic sector such as hydroelectric energy production, which is even more important to protect and strengthen given the rise in costs and, even more so, the prospect of the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States against Vladimir Putin.
“We must strive for an increase in the energy output of at least 10% more, in addition to compensation works and rent increases,” says Marnati, who expects the question of contesting the legislation to be addressed in May. part of the Government and the initiation of proceedings for the renewal of concessions.
Still on the subject of energy, Piedmont has opted to pursue the NRP-favored course of hydrogen generation. The name of the project for which the Region is compiling the tender dossier is Hydrogen Valley. “We’re mapping the abandoned industrial sites across the area territory, and we’ll find at least two places to establish hydrogen-production facilities,” Marnati adds.
This project has a budget of roughly $50 million, and the output “would function as a zero-emissions fuel derived from water.” Part of the output might be utilized to modify at least a few of railway lines, such as Cuneo-Ventimiglia and Novara-Biella, which are now served by diesel-powered trains. Then there are buses, as well as garbage collection vehicles and vehicles used by some manufacturing businesses “.. The Piedmontese businesses are keeping a close eye on the Hydrogen Valley, which, as the commissioner points out, “already has a supply chain ready for the hydrogen sector, since it is the most advanced location in this sector.”
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