THE CHALLENGE FOR A CLEAN FUTURE ALSO STEMS FROM SOLAR ENERGY

It was a well-known fact that Italy had all that it needed to take center stage in the arena of solar thermal energy, even though, perhaps, this fact did not receive the attention it deserved.
Carlo Rubbia, the renowned Italian physicist already awarded the Nobel prize, designed and developed a special thermodynamic system that optimizes the use of solar energy, by concentrating it through special parabolic mirrors in a liquid mass of mineral salts that can reach and maintain a high temperature well over 600 degrees Celsius. The demo and experimental installations, until now, in Granada, Spain and Syracuse (the latter near completion), have highlighted the technological, strategic and economic relevance of a concept which, on a large scale, might greatly contribute to solving the energy problem. We are referring to the gradual and, as much as possible, painless change from fossil-origin sources, subject to depletion and highly polluting, to renewable and environmentally-friendly sources.
The latest update from Ansa is that ENEA and Confindustria of Lazio will hold, through a pool of partner companies associated with the region industrial confederation system, a sort of strategic challenge, so that Lazio may become the holder of know-how and technology for the production of electricity from solar thermodynamic systems.
In southern Lazio a plant capable of producing 20-30 MW will be built. The plant will serve as an operating laboratory for the organization of an entire sector, which can maximize the productive advantages and achieve the objectives of economic revamping as well as the creation of new job opportunities.
This meeting between the need for new production of clean energy, energy autonomy, creative talent and entrepreneurial skills is further proof of how new interesting opportunities for development and progress may emerge from deeper crises. The energy crisis of recent years, only partly hidden by the economic-financial crisis that has temporarily lowered the cost of raw materials, is still ongoing: all the highly future-oriented countries are investing substantial resources in the so-called green economy, aware that the challenge of the coming decades will be played mostly on the front of clean energy.
Europe too, after the United States, lead by Barack Obama, is moving in this direction, as shown by the recent agreement by the European Council, now known as package "20-20-20”, which plans to increase energy efficiency as well as have a lower level of CO2 emissions and more renewable energies by 2020.
This can only be achieved through careful incentive policies that can favor the complementarities of different production systems of clean energy harmoniously and efficiently. There are already some fascinating examples, such as Güssing in Burgenland, the easternmost Austrian region, a center of 4,000 residents that has reached total energy autonomy (with a lot of surplus sold back to the power grid with excellent profits) creating an integrated cycle of energy production. By combining solar thermal energy with PV, the burning of biomasses and thermal gasification has completely lowered the costs of energy purchases. Surplus energy is sold at the rate of €13 million per year and the production of CO2 has been lowered by 93% in ten years.
The future is being molded right here. This is the challenge that governments and companies are facing now. Fenzi is doing the same. It will be big news in no time at all.