Energy: ENEA and Eni join forces for international DTT project worth 600 million euros

Frascati (RM), 29 January 2020 - Italy comes to the forefront of the international stage with a project in which ENEA and Eni will work together in a strategic alliance. The project, worth over 600 million euros, focuses on the energy of the future, sustainable, safe and unlimited, and it involves the establishment of a scientific and technological centre for fusion DTT (Divertor Tokamak Test) in ENEA’s Research Centre in Frascati (Rome) by DDT Scarl, a joint venture owned 25% by Eni, 74% by ENEA and 1% by Consorzio CREATE.

The project will have an impact of around 2 billion euros on the national GDP and will create 1,500 new jobs, among which 500 for scientists and technical specialists.

The agreement was signed today at the Research Centre of ENEA by the president of ENEA, Federico Testa, and the CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, in the presence of the Secretary to the Prime Minister, Riccardo Fraccaro, of the Minister for Universities and Research, Gaetano Manfredi, the Minister of Economic Development, Stefano Patuanelli, and the President of Lazio Region, Nicola Zingaretti.

The Divertor Tokamak Test will be built over 7 years and will see the participation of the European Union, the Consorzio CREATE, and the European Investment Bank (with a record funding of 250 million euros provided by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, a pillar of the Juncker Plan for investments), the European Consortium EUROfusion (with 60 million euros under the Horizon 2020 funds), the Minister of Economic Development and the  Ministry of University and Research (with about 80 million euros), Lazio Region (with 25 million euros as well as the expenses of connection to the national electricity grid) and other 30 million euros given by international partners.

“With this agreement between the world of research and that of industry, Italy relaunches its leadership role within a sector that is strategic for our country’s competitiveness: that of fusion. Italian companies already won over 1,2 billion euros in contracts and are considered among the best in the world” the President of ENEA, Federico Testa, highlighted. “I would like to thank all the people in ENEA that worked hard to reach this goal, as well as the institutions that played a pivotal role for the success of this milestone achievement which fully integrates our mission of support for companies in the challenges of innovation through knowledge transfer, advanced technologies, services, projects, products and infrastructures", he added.

Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi declared: “This partnership reflects Eni’s strategic vision for the transformation of the global energy sector, in which magnetic confinement fusion will be able to play a major role. Our know-how of the industry, as well as our skills on the management and development of large projects, combined with the excellence in scientific research offered by ENEA, are the pillars for the success of this extremely important initiative and infrastructure which rests on an all-Italian set of skills and technologies”.

“The project that will be accomplished by ENEA and Eni at the Research Center in Frascati, places Italy once again in an international leading role for research on clean, sustainable and safe energy” declared the Minister of Economic Development Stefano Patuanelli. “The development and application of innovative technology have a pivotal role in an energy transition that leads to decarbonisation and environmental sustainability. For MiSE, is essential to strengthen the synergies between the research and manufacturing sectors in order to promote the industrial competitivity of our country and the creation of new jobs through technological transfer” he added.

“ENEA and Eni form a vital alliance for the future of energy in our country. Today’s agreement – declared the Minister of University and Research Gaetano Manfredi – lays the foundation of a strategic collaboration between research and industrial world, that is able to relaunch Italy’s great scientific and technologic know-how in a global scenario, covering one of the most promising frontiers of scientific research”.

DTT Project was created to deliver scientific and technological solutions for some of the challenges of the fusion process, such as the management of extremely high temperatures and the materials to be used, and it provides support and testing infrastructure for the most advanced technological solutions to be implemented at major international fusion projects.