ENI FERRERA PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM

In order to power the Green Data Center, where the new supercomputer called HPC4 is located, quadrupling the power of the entire infrastructure and making it the most powerful in the world at industrial level, a photovoltaic plant has been built in order to use industrial land of the group with the aim of generating energy from renewable sources to be self-consumed at Eni’s industrial sites. In line with national and international energy policy guidelines relating to the promotion of the use of renewable sources and the reduction of climate-changing gas emissions, Eni S.p.A. has launched the second phase of a nationwide project for the construction of renewable source plants (in particular for the use of solar energy) for the enhancement and redevelopment of industrial areas owned by group companies that are currently disused or in the process of being disused (i.e. “Progetto Italia Phase 2”). As part of this project, it is proposed to build a photovoltaic plant with a total capacity of approximately 1 MWp (hereinafter the “Plant” or the “Project”) in an area near the ENI Green Data Center. More in detail, the area is located about 2 km south of the town of Ferrera Erbognone, Province of Pavia, to the west of the industrial area of the Sannazzaro refinery. The area chosen for the installation is owned by the “Green Data Center Ferrera Erbognone Condominium”, of which the Eni SpA Condominium owns 779.758 thousandths, and is easily accessible via the existing internal road network connected to the industrial plant.

Design criteria

The criteria with which the final design of the plant has been carried out are based on the following technical assumptions:

• preliminary choice of the plant typology, i.e. photovoltaic plant based on polycrystalline silicon technology with 72 cells and centralized inverter;
• maximization of the producible energy by means of East-West orientation of the panels through a single-axis tracking system;
• availability of the areas, morphology and accessibility of the site acquired both through surveys;
• availability of connection point to the internal Eni network (RIU);
• compliance with the laws and regulations of good practice in force;
• satisfaction of plant performance requirements;
• achievement of maximum economies of operation and maintenance of the designed Plant;
• optimization of the cost/benefit ratio;
• use of component materials of high quality, efficiency, long life and easily available on the market today;
• reduction of energy losses related to the operation of the Plant in order to maximize the amount of electricity that can be fed into the Eni internal network (RIU).