Renewability is Born: The First Renewable Energy Community for Italian Companies

September 26, 2022 – Altair Chimica, a part of the Esseco Group, joins Renewability, the first Community of Renewable Energy Consumers, with founding members EPQ and Dolomiti Energia Trading.

The Renewability model consolidates industrial companies into a Consortium Company aimed at investing in the construction of renewable energy generation facilities and supplying the electricity produced by these facilities to each consortium member.

The company’s strategic decision was driven by the desire to:

• Enhance the sustainability of its business by increasing the share of its electricity needs met by green electricity
• Contribute to the development of new renewable energy resources in the country, feasible through a long-term asset-based vision (30 years)
• Detach from the electric market, a source of extreme instability in this historical moment.

Renewability’s innovative model allows the company to become a PROSUMER – where the producer becomes a consumer – and thus independent from the electric market for a portion of its needs, supporting only the industrial costs of the initiative. Altair will benefit from a total cost of renewable energy of less than 60 Euros/MWh for the entire operational lifetime of the plants.

By joining the Renewability project, Altair has decided to invest €10 million in the construction of the first batch of renewable facilities located between Lazio and Abruzzo.

The first 24 MW batch of photovoltaic plants was built by Marseglia Amaranto Green S.r.l., which will also handle the maintenance of the plants throughout their operational lifetime.

Altair joined the project along with two other Italian industrial excellences: AFV Acciaierie Beltrame S.r.l., a leading European steel group in the commercial rolled products market, and a primary company in the chemical-pharmaceutical sector.

Altair will own one-third of the electricity produced and will have about 12,000 MWh/year of green energy in its portfolio.

In 2023, by adding Renewability to the already signed PPA agreements and rooftop photovoltaic installations on-site, Altair will be able to cover 35% of its electrical needs with green energy.

Altair Chimica is one of two companies in the Esseco Group’s chlor-alkali division, which in the green energy field already owns 2 hydroelectric power stations with a total installed capacity of about 18 MW.

Thanks to the new investment in Renewability, from 2023 onwards, over 40% of the entire group’s electricity needs will be met by green energy.

“L’impronta green è decisiva nel nostro piano di sviluppo” – dichiara l’Ing. Roberto Vagheggi, Amministratore Delegato di Altair Chimica – “La partecipazione a Renewability ci consente da un lato di prendere parte al processo di crescita delle rinnovabili in Italia e dall’altro di accrescere la nostra indipendenza energetica”.

“The green footprint is crucial in our development plan,” states Eng. Roberto Vagheggi, CEO of Altair Chimica. “Participation in Renewability allows us on one hand to take part in the growth of renewables in Italy and on the other to increase our energy independence.”

“By joining this project, we saw a tangible opportunity to disconnect a portion of our electricity needs from the market, having access to renewable energy. This investment represents a significant step in our sustainability journey” says Annalisa Montagnani, Energy Manager at Altair Chimica.