Hera to invest EUR 50m to expand geothermal heating capacity in Ferrara, Italy

Gruppo Hera has announced an investment of EUR 50 million to double the heating capacity of the Casaglia geothermal plant in Ferrara, Italy. Aside from expanding the capacity from the current 16 MW to 32 MW, the investment will also go towards expanding the district heating network. The upgrade is expected to be completed by August 2026.

In 20202, Gruppo Hera took over the Casaglia geothermal heating plant as part of a Temporary Grouping of Companies with Enel Green Power. The plans to expand the heating capacity of Casaglia were then approved by the city council of Ferrara before the end of 2024.

Simone Rossi, the district heating manager of Gruppo Hera, stated that the capacity increase will increase the contribution of geothermal energy to the heating supply in Ferrara from 44% to about 70%. The remaining supply is generated by a combination of gas boilers and a waste-to-energy plant.

The Casaglia geothermal plant currently utilizes two production wells: Casaglia 1 (1,100 meters depth) and Casaglia 20 (1,960 meters depth). The expansion program involves the drilling of a new production well and a new reinjection well, and the workover of the Casaglia 1 well. The wells tap into thermal waters at around 100 °C temperatures.

The company is also working towards an initiative that will make the heating system in Ferrara zero-emission. The plan is to use geothermal energy to capture CO2 from the exhaust fumes of the waste-to-energy plant and transport it to the storage facility being developed off the coast of Ravenna. Hera is working on this project with Saipem, and it has been selected to receive EUR 24 million of funding from the EU Innovation Fund.

Source: Il Giornale D’Italia