Acceleration of the transition towards a low-carbon future
Contributing to the acceleration of the transition towards a low-carbon future: this is the goal of Webuild and Ansaldo Nucleare in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop potential state-of-the-art solutions for the energy sector which are safe, sustainable, and flexible.
The MOU forms part of a promising outlook for the nuclear sector, with increased investments expected in new plants across the globe with the aim of delivering around 650 GW of capacity by 2050. The memorandum of understanding sets out the parties’ intention to collaborate over the next five years on the development, marketing and implementation of cutting-edge nuclear technologies, combining the complementary expertise of the two groups. The aim of the partnership is to support the development, expanded global presence, and adoption of Small Modular Reactors (SMR), smaller reactors of around 300 MW which are modular and flexible, and the subsequent adoption of Advanced Modular Reactors (AMR), nuclear fission reactors which use fourth generation technology, currently at the development stage, with new cooling systems such as molten metal, to improve performance and deliver new functionalities (co-generation, production of hydrogen, solutions for the end of the fuel cycle and management of nuclear waste).
With this major cooperation agreement, Ansaldo Energia and its subsidiary Ansaldo Nucleare are taking a further step forward towards developing new skills that benefit safety and the energy transition. Thanks to significantly lower investment costs than for current technologies, as well as operational flexibility, modularity of construction and serialisation of production processes with an associated simplification of the certification procedure, SMRs (and subsequently AMRs) will, in the coming years, be a crucial tool for generating cheap energy which is dispatchable and decarbonised. The expertise of the Ansaldo Energia group has made it a leading technology provider in the Italian power generation sector, sharing its skills in the engineering and manufacturing areas and offering more than 280,000 MW of installed power across the world (gas and steam turbines), its many decades of experience in the nuclear sector and the development of innovative solutions for the generation of hydrogen and micro-generation.
The energy sector is of great strategic value for Webuild, a company with a global track record of 313 dams and hydroelectric plants, with a total installed capacity of 52,900 MW. The company’s focus on the energy industry has grown in recent years through the acquisition of Clough, an Australian company specialising in the sector. Clean energy generation projects include the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project (GERDP), on the Blue Nile, designed and constructed to meet the energy needs of Ethiopia and driving its development through exports of energy to neighbouring countries; the Rogun hydroelectric project in Tajikistan, with the world’s highest dam, which will double the country’s energy generation; Snowy 2.0 in Australia, a hydroelectric plant destined to be one of the world’s most efficient, capable of generating electricity to meet peaks in demand, with a response time of just 90 seconds.