Navigation


Alert Web

HeraAssetPublisherFilterComuneSelector

Choose the municipality

Ci dispiace, il servizio non è attivo nel tuo comune.
Esplora i servizi attivi nel tuo comune:
Inserisci un comune con il servizio di "Ambiente" oppure vai all'Homepage

Ferrara, the city of "green" heat

Testata Focus

Testata Focus

Category Facet

category
Category Facet

Custom Facet

ddmStructureKey
Custom Facet

Search Results

x-results-for-x

Asset Publisher

Ferrara, the city of "green" heat

What's Ferrara's green secret? It's underground, where a geothermal basin feeds its district heating system. The result? 87% of the thermal energy distributed in the city is "clean" and we avoid about 22 thousand tonnes of CO 2 emissions.

A treasure is hiding under the soil of Ferrara. Not a chest full of gold coins nor a vault containing hidden works of art. It is a gift that nature gave this city. About two thousand metres under the Casaglia hamlet, there is a geothermal deposit from which water is drawn at around 100 °C. It is one of the world' s largest geothermal sources and a completely clean and renewable source of energy. 

This natural treasure makes Ferrara's district heating one of the most advanced geothermal plants in Europe. This reservoir, in fact, supplies 43% of the thermal energy to a 160 km long network that serves about 25 thousand housing units. Thanks to geothermal energy, combined with the recovery of the heat generated by the Via Diana waste-to-energy plant, 87% of the heat we distribute in Ferrara is "green". This result is confirmed by the recent Carbon Footprint certification validated by SGS, according to which Hera district heating helps the city of Ferrara to save 22 thousand tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. 

The Hera Group, partnered with Enel Green Power in a specially created temporary grouping of companies, has been managing this treasure trove of clean energy since the end of 2019. We began this process in 2017, when we obtained the concession to exploit the geothermal reservoir in the Ferrara subsoil, and we recently completed it by acquiring the Casaglia geothermal power plant. Thanks to this operation, we expect to increase the Ferrara district heating system's use of geothermal energy by a further 23% by 2023, compared to the 2016-2019 average. 

In recent years, our strategy has had a single objective: to boost district heating in the city and create an advantage in both the residential and production markets. For example, under an agreement with the Municipality of Ferrara, customers who convert their systems, installing a district heating controller, already receive an 80% discount on the installation. 


[business-activities/focus] hidden search categories

Tag Facet

tag
Tag Facet

Search Results

Focus
18/08/2021

From Padua to Udine: a valuable teamwork experience

From Padua to Udine: a valuable teamwork experience borgato_marco_thumbnail.png 2020 was a year focused on the need for resilience and skilfully-managed changes. This was put into practice by 13 colleagues of AcegasApsAmga who offered their own skills during the summer to colleagues in one of the Group’s companies, ASE, which found itself dealing with an unexpected increase in workload due to the Covid health crisis. This willing team included Marco Borgato, who transferred to Udine for two weeks to take part. Marco, what do you do in AcegasApsAmga? For about 4 years now, I’ve been working in the Water Department in Padua, where I deal with the electrical side of water systems like pumps, transformers, cathodic protection. Often, people have no idea how much electricity is involved in the water system. A multifaceted skill set, then: with the Covid crisis, were you asked to collaborate with ASE? With the end of lockdown, ASE experienced an unexpected increase in workload in a very short space of time, such as the maintenance of electrical systems in schools which needed to be ready quickly for the high school leaving exams. So I was asked to join a team of colleagues in Udine for a few weeks. What did you do during your time in ASE? ASE manages electrical systems in many public buildings in Udine. So, I was able to put my electro-technical skills into practice in various types of systems, such as checking the circuit breakers in a school. Would you recommend this experience to your colleagues if the need were to arise again? Absolutely, yes! It allowed me to meet colleagues from other locations that I would not have met otherwise. There was an instant positive work atmosphere and we became a close team really quickly, all of us trusting each other. no
Focus
18/08/2021

The labyrinth hunter

The labyrinth hunter selli_ettore_thumbnail.png A lifetime of interests embodied in a book. Ettore Selli, 32 year old engineer at Herambiente in Bologna, is the author of “Labirinti vegetali. La guida completa alle architetture verdi dei cinque continenti” (”Garden Labyrinths. A complete guide to green architecture in five continents”), which is enjoying great success on radio and TV programmes, and in the press. The book is the result of his passion for Greek myths, adventure and the environment, the latter also leading to his job where he deals with tenders for transport and disposal of special waste in Italy and Europe. “For an environmental engineer like me, working in Herambiente is like coming home. Dealing with waste means working with the environment, it is a way to contribute personally every day to the earth’s sustainability.” His interest in Greek mythology dates back to secondary school: “I attended a classical lyceum, so I grew up with the legends of Daedalus and Icarus.” His adventurous spirit is also rooted in his childhood: “I was a scout for 16 years, I love exploring and the outside life, mountains and trekking. These are passions passed on to me from my family; my father is in fact a geology teacher.” This resulted in his desire to explore garden labyrinths around the world, gardens of all shapes and sizes that unite nature with mystery. In his illustrated book, 420 examples of these labyrinths from all parts of the world are provided, in over 60 countries: from Italy to Argentina, from New Zealand to South Africa. He has visited many of these himself: “I love travelling and, on each of my trips, wherever possible, I always include a visit to a labyrinth”. For more remote examples, he relies on geographical maps and satellite images. He has collected images and information to put together a guide which offers photos, descriptions, historic and particularly botanical background, anecdotes and legends, and geographic coordinates. In the office, procedures have changed during the pandemic, but not the motivation. “I never get tired of my job. Covid has not impeded our work, we have continued to work a lot and hard. Also because the new online working methods have optimised our working times”. What Ettore misses is the normal working relationship with colleagues. “In the office we’re now divided into two teams to avoid the possibility of any infection spreading to everyone. This means that half of the office never meets the other half. Despite this, we have never lost our friendly atmosphere and spirit of collaboration”. no

Asset Publisher

Focus

A source of clean energy from sewers and wet waste: Biomethane

An investment of Euro 37 million. A plant that disposes of 100 thousand tonnes of organic waste produced by separate waste collection and another 35 thousand tonnes coming from green waste and pruning material. 

Focus

Biodiesel has been developed also from used food oil

Fuel may also be extracted from vegetable oils. Used domestic vegetable oil (such as frying oil) which is recovered by multiutility services via roadside containers and drop-off points, is transformed into biodiesel, which in turn is used to fuel the vehicles used for urban waste collection.

Focus

Bus fuel from trash: Hera's pilot project with "START"

To obtain clean energy to power Ravenna's buses by decomposing waste in landfills. 

Focus

Data, the key to a smart future

From city to "smart city" thanks to data: with our detection systems we can monitor traffic trends, air quality and consumption of public parks. 

Focus

Dialogue with the urban context for new energy: the Borgo Panigale cogeneration plant

District heating is already in itself a "sustainable" and environment-friendly solution, because it can guarantee better performance than traditional domestic boilers. In addition, the plant located in Borgo Panigale ensures lower emissions into the environment, more reliability and greater availability of energy. The system can heat the equivalent of 8,000 residential units. Currently, the turbines can produce 35,000 MWh of energy per year, almost twice as much as in the past.

Focus

Ferrara, the city of "green" heat

What's Ferrara's green secret? It's underground, where a geothermal basin feeds its district heating system. The result? 87% of the thermal energy distributed in the city is "clean" and we avoid about 22 thousand tonnes of CO 2 emissions.

Focus

Hera and General Electric together for energy recovery

We have installed a turbo expander at the R&M stations of Ducati's factory in Bologna. The goal is to recover electricity from the decompression process of methane gas. 

Focus

Hergo Reti: the smart approach to emergency service and maintenance

More than 130 thousand emergency response reports involving 1,500 employees in 2019. More than 50 thousand emergency response operations in the first six months of 2020, in a local area that includes Emilia-Romagna, Triveneto and Marche.

Focus

Hergoambiente, waste bin speaking

Our 300,000 waste bins are talking. How? Thanks to a "tag" that always tells us where they are, how they are working and if they have been emptied. Find out more about the projects of HergoAmbiente, Hera Group's "smart" system to support waste management services.

Focus

Innovation takes flight and offers a variety of perspectives

Hera Group's drones are alternative and supplemental investigation tools to provide quality services to the areas we serve.

— x-items-per-page
showing-x-x-of-x-results

Bilancio bs e be banner

Interactive financial statements and sustainability reports
The consolidated economic results at 31 December 2023 and the 2023 sustainability report were approved by the Board of Directors of the Hera Group on 26 March 2024

Pre-Footer Standard

Hera SpA, Viale Carlo Berti Pichat 2/4, 40127 Bologna, Tel.051287111 www.gruppohera.it