THE ENERGY TRANSITION

Working together to promote fusion

Looking to the stars for clean, sustainable, and limitless energy.

Working together to promote fusion

Looking to the stars for clean, sustainable, and limitless energy.

Bringing the Sun into our homes

Bringing the sun into our homes is without a doubt one of the greatest challenges for humankind. Fusion occurs in the Sun when two hydrogen atoms, or two hydrogen isotopes, come so close together that their nuclei fuse together. The result is a helium atom, while a part of the mass of the hydrogen atoms is converted into energy. That process has fascinated researchers for years, because if it could be harnessed, it would deliver virtually unlimited and extremely clean energy. Replicating fusion on earth requires the use of hydrogen isotopes, because their nuclei contain the smallest positively charged particles. Therefore, it involves hydrogen, with its single proton nucleus, deuterium, which has a neutron and a proton in its nucleus, and tritium, where two neutrons are associated with a proton. Although these may be the smallest elements of the Universe, at extremely high temperatures, which enable the atoms to overcome the electrostatic repulsion that their positive charge creates, they fuse together and release energy. Fusion is the primary energy powering the entire Universe – the energy produced by the Sun and other stars. And it is the energy of the future. Virtually limitless, fusion power is environmentally and economically sustainable because it produces no polluting emissions. This is one of the reasons why technological advancement in magnetic confinement fusion energy has been one of the main aims of the Eni and MIT collaboration since 2018, an activity which is set to play a key role in the decarbonization of global energy systems. Today this agreement has been extended, with Eni continuing to promote research into magnetic fusion through the MIT Laboratory For Innovations in Fusion Technologies. The company will continue to be part of the Low-Carbon Energy Center within the MIT energy initiative, for the research and development of technologies aimed to capture, use and store CO2, solar energy, and energy storage. Finally, Eni is also becoming part of the MIT Mobility Systems Center dedicated to investigating more efficient vehicles, fuels and transport networks with lower environmental impacts.

In the fusion adventure, we can make an enormous contribution to MIT and we believe that the collaborative research system will expand to other entities as well. We have made a deal with the National Research Council (CNR) and we are considering agreements with other national and international research institutes to work together on this large-scale project that will arguably resolve future energy problems.

GIUSEPPE TANNOIA, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT ENI

Combining expertise for clean energy

Fusion is a sophisticated technology, which needs a great deal of the specialised knowledge present in our company, such as the physics of materials and the development of technologically-advanced plants. One of Eni's first goals is to create a team with these strong core of skills which is able to develop these challenging technologies to a very tight timescale. We are collaborating with various centers of expertise in Italy, including most recently the National Research Council (CNR). Francesca Ferrazza, Knowledge Management System Vice President di Eni and Massimiliano Pieri, Vice President for co-operation with MIT talk about this technology.

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Four collaborations to harness the Sun's energy

Over the years, Eni has built up a network of collaborations enabling it to develop cutting-edge technology. Through the skills of our people, and those working closely with them, we have improved industrial know-how, constantly innovating and implementing valuable solutions for energy transition. The collaborations related to magnetic fusion are among those that have helped us to take on an ever more important role. Eni is proud to be collaborating on a number of scientific matters with various major public and private research bodies.

Eni and MIT

The partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been in place since 2008. It is a joint project that has led to the development of innovative technologies with excellent results: over 300 scientific publications, 40 doctoral scholarships, over 100 for students and 10 for researchers, over 50 new technologies and 30 proprietary patents of which 5 are joint. Bringing the Sun into our homes is no longer an impossible dream.

Eni and CFS

In March 2018, we signed an agreement with MIT spin-out Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), which will allow our company to develop the first plant producing energy with magnetic confinement fusion, a safe, sustainable and virtually inexhaustible source that produces no polluting emissions or greenhouse gases. Taking important steps together towards a low-carbon future.

Eni and ENEA: working together to research fusion

As an energy company we are proud to closely collaborate with Italian institutes of excellence such as ENEA. A protocol agreement that paves the way for a new form of collaboration with regards to research into magnetic confinement fusion has now been signed. An agreement strengthening the link with the agency and confirming the company's commitment to the development and application of innovative technologies.

Eni and the Gela CNR

The Ettore Majorana centre in Gela is at the cutting edge of research into plasmas, super-conducting magnets, and potential power plants where materials would be used and fusion carried out. Just one of the many relationships of excellence the company is part of for a rapid and safe transition to clean and safe energy.