Terna: Sardinia’s record-breaking hi-tech laboratory

Codrongianos (Sassari), 17 November 2016- Codrongianos, in the province of Sassari, is home to Europe's most technologically advanced hub for the support and protection of electrical grids: 250,000 square metres of research, innovation and hi-tech equipment, a concentration of globally unique cutting-edge solutions, including storage systems, synchronous condensers and undersea cabling. An energy laboratory that Terna opened for the first time today. With this real record-breaking 'technological village', which extends over an area equal to 33 football pitches and has been created with an investment of more than € 70 million, and thanks to the work of 40 companies and more than 100 individuals, Terna has created a top-class centre of electrical engineering.

In terms of technological excellence, Terna focuses on Sardinia, a key region for the evolution of technologies and electrical infrastructures and a territory in which the development of renewable sources has an increasingly significant bearing on the local electrical grid. Since 2009, wind power has doubled, exceeding 1000 MW, while photovoltaic power has increased twenty-fold, to more than 720 MW. Sardinia serves as a model for the paradigm shift that we are experiencing in the electricity sector, and is the chosen location for world-first 'operational electrical experimentation'. The island acts as a laboratory for new technologies and intelligent grids, the development of which Terna is also pursuing in other territories, with the Smart Island project in Giglio, Giannutri, Pantelleria and Certosa, aimed at integrating renewables, storage and electrical mobility for a more secure, efficient and sustainable grid.

As well as the Codrongianos hub, Terna has planned a series of operations for development, updating and management of the electrical transmission grid in Sardinia, for a total cost of roughly € 200 million, in addition to the € 800 million already spent in the area over the last decade. These actions are designed to resolve current critical situations and significantly increase the security of the island's electricity system, in terms of both the quality and continuity of energy supply to businesses and citizens. The operations include grid restructuring in the Cagliari area, which will also serve to reduce the impact of existing electrical infrastructures in that zone, the 'S.Teresa-Tempio-Buddusò' and 'Selargius-Goni' lines, the Selegas electrical substation and works to reinforce the grid in Gallura.

Five electricity records for Sardinia at Codrongianos. The Storage Lab, part of the Codrongianos site, holds the world record in the battery power sector for the number of different technologies used simultaneously, with a total of 7.

It is also Europe's most technologically advanced electrical hub for the support and protection of the electrical grid. Furthermore, Sardinia holds the Italian record of hosting Terna's first two synchronous condensers, specially designed for better management of renewables. In addition, the SA.PE.I. undersea cable, connecting the island to the Italian mainland, is the deepest in the world. Lastly, there is the SA.CO.I, which connects Sardinia to the Italian peninsula via Corsica and is the world's first high-voltage direct-current three-terminal connection, in use now for 50 years.

This is an all-Italian achievement that secures Italy's place among the global leaders in terms of research, technological innovation and sustainable-development solutions in the electricity sector. At Codrongianos, Terna has installed and set in operation the first synchronous condensers in Italy, large-scale machinery with which to manage electrical flows, and is testing and utilising the latest technologies for energy storage, with advantages in terms of security and lower costs for the grid. With the Storage Lab, 7.4 MW of battery power is already in operation, and a further 0.4 MW of capacity still to be implemented. These numbers confirm Terna as the grid manager with the largest active ultra-battery system and vast know-how on the subject of grid-scale energy storage at the international level. The project has been implemented also thanks to the forward-looking approach adopted by the Italian Energy Authority, which established the regulatory foundations allowing Italy to move to the forefront in terms of the ongoing development of renewables and solutions for decarbonisation, an internationally-shared aim with a vision for future generations. With the Codrongianos hub, Terna takes on a global leadership role in the most innovative sector, that of energy storage for the more efficient management of renewable sources, which foresees a global investment of over $ 40 billion by 2024.

Two high-voltage direct-current power lines, amongst the most innovative and sustainable ever created, run from the north of Sardinia. The SA.PE.I. that connects Sardinia to the Italian mainland is the world's longest 1000 MW undersea cable (435 km) and is laid at a record-breaking absolute depth of up to 1640 metres, on the floor of the Tyrrhenian Sea. In operation since 2011 and with its € 750 million investment, it is the most important grid infrastructure ever constructed in Italy. It generates benefits for the electricity system that equate to a total annual saving of € 70 million for families and businesses, and reduces annual CO emissions by more than 500,000 tonnes, thanks to the increased use of renewable energy sources.

In Sulcis, Terna manages a true experimental test field in which to test the characteristics of power insulators, devices positioned on the pylons to support the electrical cables transporting energy and insulate them from the pylons themselves. Known as Lanpris (Natural Insulator Test Laboratory), it is a globally unique system, and only France and South Africa have anything similar.

'I'm very proud to be able to show you the all-Italian excellence of the Codrongianos technological hub for the first time. For decades, this site has represented a fundamental chapter in the history of Sardinia's and Italy's electrification process, and now, as we move forward, it will be even more important, thanks to the work of our young engineers and national enterprises collaborating on the initiative. Terna's commitment to developing the region's electricity system does not end here. We plan to invest around € 200 million to ensure the electricity system is even more efficient, secure, and sustainable and, above all, to best integrate renewable sources, which make Sardinia one of the greenest regions of our country' declared Terna CEO Matteo Del Fante.