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Southern Corridor GRIP 2017–2026
6.2.5.2 Underground storage in Italy
Italy already disposes of the larger underground storage capacity in the Southern
Corridor region, with 10 operational depleted field storage facilities, located in the
regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Abruzzo. However new projects
are considered to increase further more the supply security. Most of them concern
the expansion or modernisation of existing facilities.
The available storage capacity at the end of 2016 amounted to 16.5bcm; this
amount includes 4.5bcm of strategic reserve – a value yearly defined by the Ministry
of Economic Development (MiSE) – to mitigate gas shortage emergencies. Gas
storage plays an important role in the Italian market, as it provides both the major
source of flexibility, and increases security of supply in a market that is heavily
dependent on imports. The need to develop storage capacity is highlighted in the
Italian Energy Strategy (SEN), which indicated the need to increase the capacity
margin of the system as well as increasing flexibility in gas supply to prevent
emergency situations during peak demand conditions and/or supply interruption.
Increases in storage capacity are expected because of the expansions of the existing
storage facilities in Fiume Treste, Minerbio, Ripalta, Sabbioncello, Sergnano and
Settala, but also through the commissioning of new sites under construction or
authorisation: Bordolano, in Lombardy, developed by Stogit (first phase already
commissioned in February 2016); San Potito and Cotignola, in Emilia-Romagna,
owned by Edison Stoccaggio in the activation phase (already connected with the
national network); Palazzo Moroni in Marche, on initiative of Edison Storage;
Cornegliano in Lombardy, on the initiative of Ital Gas Storage.
The list of projects in this category is the following:
LIST OF PROJECTS
Project
Code
Promoter
Bordolano Second phase
UGS-F-1045
Stogit
System Enhancements – Stogit – on-shore gas fields
UGS-F-260
Nuovi Sviluppi Edison Stoccaggio
UGS-N-235
Edison
Palazzo Moroni
UGS-N-237
Non-FID Advanced