Energy production

Iren Energia

With a traditional corporate governance system, Iren Energia is one of the four parent companies of Iren S.p.A. active in the production of electricity and in the production, as well as in the distribution, of thermal energy for district heating and technological services. Through its subsidiary Iren Smart Solutions, the company offers smart solutions for people and businesses, promoting integrated services in energy efficiency and innovation.

Our plants

The Iren Group’s power production plants consist mainly of hydroelectric and photovoltaic plants that use renewable sources and combined-cycle co-generation thermoelectric plants, which are some of the most efficient technologies currently available on the market.

 

The efficient use and saving of energy resources are among the main objectives of the Group’s medium and long-term Business Plan.

Hydroelectric plants

The Iren Group’s hydroelectric plants are located in Turin and in Piedmont in the Orco and Susa Valleys. In Campania, however, there is the Tusciano core. These are reservoir plants, which use water from a natural or artificial reservoir, and run-of-river plants, which use the flow of a watercourse, with a total installed capacity of around 604 MW. 

Thermoelectric plants

In addition to the cogeneration thermoelectric plants, Iren has an 855 MW combined cycle thermoelectric plant located in Turbigo in the province of Milan. A new 430MW turbogas unit (with post-combustion) in 1+1 configuration is currently under construction, which is the revamping of the old conventional TL3 unit and will enter commercial service by the end of 2022.

Heat accumulators

Heat storage systems have the function of storing the thermal energy produced by cogeneration thermoelectric plants during the hours when demand is lower than the production capacity of the cogeneration plants, in order to release it, efficiently, during the peak load hours of the district heating network. This way, the operation of the cogeneration system is optimised.

 

Cogeneration plants

Cogeneration is the process of simultaneous production, in the same plant, of electrical energy and thermal energy, the latter usually used for heating buildings. The Group’s plants are located in Turin (Moncalieri and Turin North power plants), Genoa (Sampierdarena power plant) and Reggio Emilia (Energy Hub power plant).

Photovoltaic plants

Iren has 94 photovoltaic plants on the Italian territory for a total of about 140 MWp of installed power, divided between: Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Liguria, Apulia and Sardinia.

Heating systems

The Group operates conventional heating systems for integration and district heating reserve in the areas of Turin, Reggio Emilia, Parma and Piacenza.

District heating

District heating allows transporting heat from the production plants to individual consumers via an extensive network of underground pipelines of hot or superheated water. The Group has an active network in the territories of Turin, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Piacenza and Genoa.