Italy Hub&Lab

The Innovation Hub Italy is a strategic nexus in Enel’s Open Innovation and its innovative, sustainability technology scouting network. The research and development labs in Italy have a long history of excellence dating back to Enel’s foundation in 1962.

With the creation of the Innovation Hub & Labs in Pisa and Catania, our Group has expanded its perspective, combining this tradition with an openness to the outside world. This is in order to foster collaboration with the most innovative Italian startups and SMEs, thereby promoting cooperation and the development of solutions in the energy sector.

Italy is one of the countries where our Group operates, with two hubs and labs dedicated to researching innovative technological solutions in the fields of infrastructure and grids, renewable energy and thermal generation. The Pisa and Catania locations are connected with the other Enel Innovation Hubs worldwide, contributing to strengthening the entire innovation ecosystem in our country.

Pisa

The Global Thermal Generation (GTGx) Innovation Hub&Lab is part of the Innovation Hub&Labs network managed by the Group.

The Pisa hub will host startups and partners working with GTGx on the design and implementation phases of projects.

The Innovation Hub&Lab will enable partners to work alongside Enel's Business Line and to create synergies with startups already working with the Group, with the aim of sharing value and managing the challenges of Thermal Generation. It will also host workshops and events focused on specific technologies.

Pisa | openinnovability.enel.com

Catania

The Passo Martino Innovation Hub & Lab in Catania is a research laboratory and innovation center that also houses an innovation incubator and laboratories focused on renewable energy.

The site hosts the laboratory dedicated to innovative renewable technologies and energy storage solutions, which are fundamental for the Group’s energy transition journey. It is also one of the locations of the Innovation Hub Italia, which is designed to engage the ecosystem and identify new innovative solutions that can be developed and implemented in business.

The entire area spans 10 hectares of experimental space, with 3,000 square meters of indoor laboratories and 30,000 square meters of outdoor testing areas. It is one of the three Italian laboratories with ISO17025 certification under the IEC 61215 standard (since 2011) and the only one that’s capable of conducting accredited tests on industrial-scale products.

Furthermore, it features two dedicated macro-areas:

  • The Energy Storage and Grid Integration Lab: These laboratories focus on energy storage technologies, which are key enablers of the energy transition and are increasingly considered crucial assets for the stability of the electric power system. The lab is a complex infrastructure with 2 MW of hosting capacity. It can perform tests for studying the degradation and performance of lithium-based electrochemical batteries, as well as other types of chemistry (besides lithium ion), for batteries, modules and cells. It can also test different battery functionalities and integrated systems, from a few kW up to several hundred kW. The laboratories enable the simulation of grid service participation, focusing on storage coupled with renewable sources or stand-alone systems. This is in addition to simulating the functionalities of commercial and industrial microgrids, both on-grid and off-grid.
  • The Solar Innovation Lab: The objective is to identify effective, efficient, and resilient technological solutions for solid and sustainable business development. The lab's primary activities focus on testing solar technologies, mainly photovoltaic modules (for all the technologies and sizes available on the market), to evaluate their performance, aging, and functionality. The lab is equipped to conduct functional tests on inverters, trackers, robotics, floating PV, and more. There are six indoor laboratories equipped with cutting-edge machinery, including climate chambers, UV chambers, continuous and flash solar simulators, mechanical load testers, hail testing machines, electroluminescence, and thermography systems.

Over the years, the laboratory has actively supported the scalability of innovative solutions of value to the Group's business, such as automated PV module cleaning robots and innovative floating PV technologies.

Catania | Openinnovability.enel.com

Contact information

Giulia De Santis
Hub Manager Italy
Ornella Grassia
Innovation Lab Manager Catania

Contact the Hub

 

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