Renewable energy sources

The amount of electricity produced from renewable sources decreased in 2021 (-52%) due to the partial divestment of the Snam4Environment cogeneration plants at the end of February in favour of plants for the production of biomethane.
On the other hand, the total number of systems increased to 2,833 units (+20% compared to 2020), following the installation of several photovoltaic systems in some of the company’s buildings, specifically the territorial offices and maintenance centres. On the contrary, installed capacity decreased by 16%, from 5.12 MW to 4.31 MW. This decrease, once again attributable to Snam4Environment’s plants, was mitigated by the increased power of the new back-up plants installed on the gas transportation network, which improved the performance of the monitored plants and replaced obsolete models, and by two new photovoltaic plants connected to the electricity grid.

The increase in consumption by Snam4Environment, which buys electricity from the grid, has also led to a reduction in the overall share of electricity from renewable sources for the entire Snam Group, cancelling out the benefits of switching to electricity from renewable sources at the Melizzano power plant, GNL Italia and Snam’s headquarters offices. Thus the share of green electricity in the total has fallen from 49% in 2020 to 41% in 2021, which however is in line with the target of 55% of electricity purchased from renewable sources by 2030.

In 2021, Snam strengthened its commitment to the ESG Scorecard target on the annual production of electricity from photovoltaic plants: the target of producing at least 860 MWh annually by 2025 was largely exceeded, reaching 950 MWh.
Energy efficiency work on the Group’s buildings in 2021 led to gas savings that doubled compared to 2020 (30,000 m³ of gas in 2021 vs 15,000 m³) and 80 MWh of electricity, an increase of 15 MWh over the previous year, which is in line with the 2025 target (to save 75,000 m³ per year of gas and 250 MWh per year of electricity).

(*) Back-up implants of which 1 eolic and 2,787 photovoltaic

(**) Biomass-fuelled plants producing green electricity (the number refers to electric generators)