Cefla, a leading company in Italy in the design and construction of cogeneration plants and in the field of power generation plants, will build a new 110 MW power plant with natural gas for A2A – to be installed at the existing Cassano d’Adda facility. The plant will be a dedicated facility for electrical power balancing service (for the Italian Capacity Market system) to ensure grid stability and to balance renewable energy sources which, in Italy, are currently on a constantly upward development trend.
The contract with A2A was signed by a consortium of companies formed by Cefla and Wärtsilä, a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets and will be implemented over the next two years.
The remarkable development of renewable sources in Italy and the further increase expected in accordance with the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) as part of the Energy Transition plan implemented at European level makes it necessary to create a number of backup power plants, suitable for quick starting, in order to guarantee grid continuity of service, stability and safety at times when the production of energy from renewable sources is reduced for climatic reasons.
In this scenario, A2A has launched this initiative which will be implemented by the Cefla/Wärtsilä consortium, based on a plant designed to make use of the most efficient technologies, with electric power up to 110MW to ensure power backup for the grid, ready to come into play within a few seconds. The technology applied requires the use of internal combustion engines built by Wärtsilä, highly suitable for this type of application because they ensure quick starts and low exhaust emissions.
With this plant, A2A will contribute through the “Capacity Market” system to ensuring adequate grid safety – which is a necessary precondition for the constant growth of renewable sources in Italy, within the scope of the Italian national energy and decarbonisation plan to be implemented by 2030 and with PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) funding.
The Capacity Market is a system managed by Terna, the Italian grid system operator, designed to guarantee system stability to support the expected increase in the national solar and wind energy production which is not programmable.
By securing this contract, Cefla further consolidates its position as standard-setter in the sector for the most efficient large-scale power plants with gas engines.
For us, securing a contract for this new plant in partnership with Wärtsilä is a source of great pride and a drive to continue to do even better and develop important innovations. Above all, our goal is to continue to invest in the energy industry - where we have strengthened our highly sector-specific skills in recent years - with increasingly specialised solutions for the design and construction of cogeneration power plants, biomass plants and plant engineering services in the Energy field.
Massimo Milani, Managing Director of Cefla's Engineering Business Unit
"Cefla, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, through its Engineering Business Unit will specifically deal with the complete "turnkey" development of project engineering, construction, installation and testing of the new plant - which will replace a previously existing plant. Cefla therefore plays a leading role in the construction of the new plant, which confirms the outstanding level of design and construction expertise reached by our company in the energy sector. Our expertise, acknowledged by the market, has allowed us to be selected by one of the top “Power Producers” in Italy, A2A, something we are extremely proud of. Another great achievement by our company – today present thanks to the Plant Engineering company on the German market, where we hope to develop new initiatives for innovative plants as part of the energy transition process,” explains Massimo Pinoli, International Energy Sales Director with Cefla Engineering".
Massimo Pinoli: International Energy Sales Director with Cefla Engineering
