Sardinia will profit from Galsi pipeline
Snam Rete gas confirmed that Sardinia is due to receive 38 connections on the planned Galsi pipeline. The pipeline is the only economically feasible means of giving the island gas to encourage investment in power generation.
The Galsi pipeline will bring 8 billion cubic metres/year (Gm3/year) of Algerian gas to Italy from 2014, with 2Gm3 of that going direct to Sardinia.
“Sardinia has been kept in mind from the beginning,” a spokesperson for Snam Rete gas told ICIS Heren. The Eni subsidiary is responsible for the construction of the land tract on the island and in Italy. “Not only it will receive the 2Gm3, but also the pipeline will be built with 38 connections ready for the eventual grid on the island.” At the moment, Sardinia only uses liquefied petroleum gas, and has no gas distribution network.
The environmental organisation Legambiente welcomed the pipeline at a congress on Galsi in Italy on Monday. “It’s very important for Italy and Sardinia,” Legambiente’s scientific director Stefano Ciani said. “The gas will help to transform the island’s coal- and oil-fired power plants to more efficient combined-cycle gas turbines.” The statement will hopefully calm local opposition to the project, which resulted in forming a “committee against Galsi” a few months ago.
Sardinia and Sicily have the highest costs for electricity production across any of Italy’s six geographical zones.
At the beginning of September, the zonal price for electricity generation on the island remained at €220/MWh for 23 hours out of 24, while Sardinian prices peaked again at €150–220/MWh this month, compared with €60–70/MWh in the Continent.
But gas imports to Sardinia should lead to energy costs more in line with continental Italy. According to Roberto Potì, chairman of the Galsi consortium, industry should be able to reduce its power generation-related cost by €200m. Gas would gain a 24% share of power production, compared with a national average of 60%, and fuel oil’s share decline from 71% to 43%, compared with less than 10% nationally.
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