Enel inaugurated an innovative pilot plant for capturing and storing carbon dioxide at its Federico II coal-fired power plant in Brindisi (2,640 MW). It will be able to treat 10,000 cubic meters per hour of fumes from the Federico II coal plant, separating out 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per hour, up to a maximum of 8,000 tons per year. The pilot plant in Brindisi is the first of its kind in Italy. The development of the capture project is part of a combined Enel and ENI project aimed at testing the first integrated Italian pilot. CO2 released by the Brindisi power plant will be transported at the ENI/Stogit site in Cortemaggiore where it will be injected and permanently stored underground thus acquiring useful know-how to design future applications of such technology or a larger scale. The pilot storage plant is expected to be operational by 2012. The design stage has been completed and Enel and ENI are awaiting for the final authorisations. Enel invested €2.5bn in the project, of which €1bn were funded through the European Recovery Programme for Energy.
The first application on an industrial scale will be at Enel’s new coal plant in Porto Tolle (Rovigo). The plant will treat 810,000 cubic meters of fumes per hour (40% of those from one of three 660 MW units operating at the plant), separating up to 1 Mt of CO2 per year, which will be stored in a saline aquifer deep below the Adriatic Sea.