Venice--The world’s first industrial-scale hydrogen-fired power plant will be built in the Porto Marghera industrial area, next to Enel’s Fusina plant. The project will involve Enel investment of 40 million euros over the next five years and more than 4 million euros in support from the Veneto Region for research and development on the new frontier of energy.

Today, at the headquarters of the Veneto Region in Venice, the Region and Enel signed an agreement on the granting of funding for research and experimentation of hydrogen technologies. The agreement is part of the Veneto Region’s initiative to develop a hydrogen district at Porto Marghera.

With the signing of the agreement by Gennaro De Michele, Head of Enel Research, the Veneto Region will contribute 4,165,446 euros to Enel.

This significant grant helps strengthen Enel’s commitment in the hydrogen field, which began in the Venice area with the founding of Hydrogen Park in 2003. The funding will go to support three research programmes to be conducted by Enel in collaboration with numerous industrial and university partners:
* development of zero-emission hydrogen combustion power generation systems;
* development of innovative hydrogen production technologies and coal and biomass power generation systems;
* innovative hydrogen accumulation systems;

The signing of the agreement is the final act in a lengthy process that involved the granting of funding to Enel Ricerca by the Veneto Region under a European call for projects, following the programme agreement with the Ministry for the Environment in March 2005 for the creation of a hydrogen district at Porto Marghera.

The construction of the hydrogen power plant at Fusina is part Enel’s plan, announced yesterday by CEO Fulvio Conti, to invest 4 billion euros over the next five years in renewables and environment-friendly innovation.