Hera wins tender for the water service in Rimini
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Hera wins tender for the water service in Rimini
The Group was awarded the tender thanks to a bid focused on sustainability and value creation. An 18-year contract worth approximately 1.7 billion euro will be signed with Atersir, the contracting authority, in the upcoming months
The Emilia-Romagna Regional Agency for Water and Waste Services (Atersir), acting as contracting authority, has officially awarded Hera the tender for managing the integrated water service in the province of Rimini (Emilia-Romagna region), with the exception of the municipality of Maiolo.
The figures of the tender won by the Hera Group
The tender concerns 24 municipalities in the Rimini area, including the province’s capital, and over 160,000 thousand users, distributed along a network extending over 3,000 km.
Thanks to this tender, one of the first to be called in Italy, the new water distribution service in the Rimini area will be based on sustainability and innovation, and the Hera Group, which is also the outgoing manager for the 24 municipalities, will be responsible for the service over the next 18 years.
The contract, which will be signed in the upcoming months between the Group and Atersir, is worth over 1.7 billion euro.
Competition that creates shared value for communities
In order to maintain management of this service, in a competitive context open to the most qualified operators in the water sector, the Hera Group has drawn up a proposal capable of reconciling service efficiency, and therefore economic impact, with best practices that guarantee high safety standards. Asset management and environmental aspects will thus be monitored by using innovative technologies that have already been operationally tested. Hera is also focusing on innovation to guarantee resilience in the management of the water cycle, a service characterised by a large number of infrastructures and therefore, more than other sectors, subject to the consequences of climate change.
In addition to the high service quality already guaranteed by the Group in this area, the new management will therefore make substantial investments to increase the resilience of networks and plants and create increasing shared value for local communities.
250 million in investments to increase safety and resilience
The Hera Group’s plan calls for a substantial part of the approximately 250 million euro planned for investments in the Rimini area over the next 18 years to be used to prevent and limit leaks, to upgrade the network and to further increase its reliability and resilience, thus providing the best guarantee of service continuity.
The investment plan also includes measures to optimise the sewage system and upgrade the purification plants, as well as solutions for the implementation of rainwater collection plans.
In order to increasingly improve the efficiency of networks and plants, the use of more traditional techniques will be enhanced with digitalisation and the most advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and big data, already used by the multi-utility in other areas, for example to optimise maintenance activities or increase energy savings in purification.
The Group’s proposal also guarantees a level of service that goes significantly beyond the standards required by ARERA, the Regulatory Authority, both in terms of the contractual quality inherent in relations with the user, and in terms of technical standards.
Chairman Tommasi: “from competition in public services shared value for the territory”
We are particularly satisfied with the awarded tender for managing the integrated water service for the province of Rimini”, explains Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, Executive Chairman of the Hera Group. “We have always made our outstanding know-how available to the areas in which we operate, not only in terms of safety and service management, but also environmental sustainability, all of which will be confirmed and reinforced with the start of the new management. Tenders, not only in the water cycle, represent a challenge that the Group has prepared itself to face for some time. This achievement demonstrates once again how important it is for us, in addition to providing service quality and continuity, to invest and create positive effects for local communities.”
CEO Venier: “local jobs and professional skills maintained”
“The spirit with which we will sign this long term contract with Atersir for the integrated water service in the 24 municipalities of the Rimini area has nothing to do with simply continuing to manage it”, says Stefano Venier, CEO of the Hera Group. “In addition to maintaining local jobs and professional skills, we intend to create new value for Rimini and the municipalities managed.”
The 24 municipalities found in the Province of Rimini involved in the tender
Bellaria-Igea Marina, Casteldelci, Cattolica, Coriano, Gemmano, Misano Adriatico, Mondaino, Montecolombo Montescudo, Montefiore Conca, Montegridolfo, Morciano di Romagna, Novafeltria, Pennabilli, Poggio Torriana, Riccione, Rimini, Saludecio, San Clemente, San Giovanni in Marignano, San Leo, Sant’Agata Feltria, Santarcangelo di Romagna, Talamello and Verucchio.
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The multiutility has won the tender launched by the Interuniversity Consortium. Located in northern Bologna, approximately 3 km from the DAMA Technopole, the new facility will provide renewable energy to the data center, helping to decarbonise its electricity consumption.
Bologna is taking another step towards a more innovative, sustainable and competitive future. Leonardo, the supercomputer co-funded by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and the Italian Ministry of University and Research and operated by CINECA at Bologna’s DAMA Technopole, will be partly powered by renewable electricity generated by Hera Group’s Energy Park agrivoltaic plant. This marks one of Italy’s first initiatives to combine environmental sustainability and technological competitiveness through dedicated green infrastructure, following the Group’s successful bid in the tender launched by the Interuniversity Consortium.
The agrivoltaic plant to be developed by Hera Group within the Energy Park will supply renewable electricity to the CINECA data center housing the Leonardo supercomputer. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to generate 30 GWh of electricity annually, avoiding approximately 7,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions, with electricity output equivalent to the consumption of 11,000 households.
The concession, awarded following the tender process in early summer, has a value of €73.5 million. In accordance with applicable regulations, Helisa (Hera Energy for Leonardo Improved Supercomputing Architecture), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hera, has been established to manage the concession.
“Thanks to the support of Minister Anna Maria Bernini and funding from the Ministry of University and Research (MUR), our supercomputing infrastructure has achieved another milestone, combining computing power with environmental sustainability,” commented Francesco Ubertini, Chairman of CINECA. “Our highly efficient closed-loop liquid cooling system, heat recovery plan, LEED Platinum certification for the data center and exclusive use of renewable energy will now be complemented by an innovative facility for on-site renewable energy generation. This represents a unique achievement at both European and international level.”
“Supplying the Leonardo supercomputer with locally generated renewable energy is an achievement of significant strategic value, made possible by the Group’s innovation and new green infrastructure,” said Orazio Iacono, Chief Executive Officer of Hera Group. “Hera’s Energy Park, a flagship initiative of Bologna Missione Clima—the Climate City Contract aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2030—is tangible evidence of this. The project creates value for both the company and the community and reinforces our role in enabling the energy transition across the areas we serve.”
Bologna’s Energy Park is an innovative project and one of the first of its kind in Italy. Hera Group will develop the facility in the Navile district, in the northern part of the city, adjacent to Parco Nord and just a few minutes from the DAMA Technopole, home to the CINECA data center housing Leonardo, one of the world’s most advanced supercomputers. Its strategic location will enable the Energy Park to supply electricity directly to the Leonardo supercomputer through a dedicated connection linking the agrivoltaic plant to the existing infrastructure.
The Energy Park is one of Hera Group’s flagship contributions to Bologna Missione Clima, the initiative supporting the City of Bologna’s commitment to achieving climate neutrality by 2030. The project will cover approximately 90 hectares, of which almost 70 hectares will remain available for agricultural use.
An advanced agrivoltaic plant will be developed on approximately 30 hectares of this agricultural land to generate renewable electricity. The height and positioning of the photovoltaic panels will allow electricity generation to coexist with the continued use of the land for farming activities.
The southern section of the site, covering the remaining hectares, will be dedicated to biodiversity conservation. Known as the Urban Forest, this area will comprise a park largely accessible to the public, alongside zones specifically designed to protect plant and animal biodiversity. Approximately 4,000 trees and shrubs will be planted.
The authorisation and construction processes for the Energy Park have already been initiated and will progress throughout 2027–2028, with completion of construction expected during 2029.