Sustainability

ERG’s multi-energy strategy, which is heavily oriented towards renewable energy sources, also passes through an intense research and innovation phase.

In 2008, an ambitious research project was launched: organic photovoltaics (third-generation solar energy), a technology that is able to generate electrical current from photochemical reactions.
As well as the lower impact on the environment, due to simplified production processes, this version of photovoltaics also presents increased versatility:

• the panels are less sensitive to the angle of incidence of solar radiation and are therefore capable of generating energy even in situations where light is diffused
• it can also be installed on vertical surfaces (glass panels of skyscrapers, towers, etc.)
• the panels allow architectural harmony due to their transparency; this means they can be coloured and therefore “camouflaged”.

ERG’s partners in this project are:

• Permasteelisa, one of the major operators in the world in the field of planning, implementation and installation of architectural ‘envelopes’
• Dyesol-Italia, a leading company in the provision of materials and technology
• Universities of Rome Tor Vergata, Ferrara and Turin, which deal with the research side

To this end, in July 2009, the six members of the project signed the by-laws of the DYEPOWER Association, the aim of which is to create an industrial production line for the new panels.

In 2010, having reached all the targets set, the Research Consortium decided to rent a warehouse on the outskirts of Rome near the Tor Vergata University, which handles the main part of the scientific and technological research, in which to install an initial set of machines for producing the pilot line. In the meantime, studies are being conducted to compare this technology – which respects the environment and is surprisingly ductile for architectural use– with the other more traditional photovoltaic technologies. To be more precise, the electricity production of these coloured, semi-transparent systems is being compared with that of the traditional crystalline or amorphous silicon panels, which are opaque and thus are not suitable for architectural use as they cannot be used for constructing windows.

Innovative Geothermics

ERG is also involved in developing projects concerning the production of electricity from geothermal sources, through innovative, environmentally sustainable systems. Systems that meet the new needs for environmental protection, capable of guaranteeing the production of alternative energy non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In fact, this is the main advantage of geothermics with respect to the other renewable sources, which all have the shortcoming of being intermittent (due to night for solar power, drops in wind for wind power).

The strategic value that ERG attributes to innovation and research explains the fact that it is also strongly interested in the academic world; this interest has for a number of years been realized through collaboration initiatives with several Italian universities.

Indeed, ERG has entered into agreements with the Universities of Genoa and Catania and by virtue of these it endorses specific research projects in which it has an interest and which fall within those areas of sustainability to which it is committed.

In detail, ISAB and ISAB Energy Services have agreed with Catania University. The subject of the agreement is financing of four research-worker positions with open-end employment contracts in the Industrial & Mechanical Engineering Department.

The 6-year convention establishes that the University will hold official competitions for the position of research-worker in four specific scientific segments, i.e. :

• Mechanics applied to machines
• Mechanical engineering design & construction of machines
• Industrial physics applied to technology
• Mechanical industrial plants

in exchange for a total multiannual grant by the two financing parties, of EUR 1.2 million.

2009 marked the start of research activities thanks to the research doctorate scholarship dedicated to the memory of Domenico D’Arpizio, set up in 2008 in collaboration with the Chemical & Process Engineering Department of the Engineering Faculty of Genoa University and focusing on the subject of Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS).