‘Recover’ Project will receive EUR 12 million for the restoration of the premises of the former “technical office” of the Grande Miniera di Serbariu in Carbonia.

Presented by Sotacarbo, in collaboration with the Municipality of Carbonia, CRS4, Imi Remosa and the Universities of Cagliari, Sassari and Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, the project is due in three years. ‘Recover’ plans to recover the structure and build an advanced laboratory of international standing to produce hydrogen and other fuels from renewable energy, which will implement the existing Sotacarbo Research Centre. An example of industrial archaeology that becomes a model of technological innovation and environmental sustainability.

‘This is an important recognition by the Agenzia per la Coesione territoriale, which highlights the solidity and innovation of the project proposal,’ emphasises the Region's president, Christian Solinas. ‘Sardinia becomes a point of reference for the entire Western Mediterranean basin, an area with the greatest potential for growth in demand for hydrogen, thanks also to the considerable development margins of renewable energy sources. The funding will contribute to the recovery of the Great Serbariu Mine and rewards Sotacarbo's strategic role in the regional research system, also thanks to its participation in several project challenges that contribute to designing a new development model for our island. This is an important building block for the start-up of a hydrogen economy in Sardinia that can create new development and employment opportunities, as well as an excellent result that confirms the validity of the recent measures taken by the Regional Council to implement the Sotacarbo Research Centre, so that it can fully play its role in coordinating activities in preparation for regional energy transition policies and for the development of low-carbon technologies’.

The ‘Recover’ project is the only one financed among the eight submitted by Sardinian research organisations or universities. ‘The ministerial experts evaluation rewards the great work of Sotacarbo researchers. Like our other projects, this one is aimed at developing renewable energy storage and the decarbonisation of ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors such as heavy transport and fossil-based industries. These are fundamental steps for the island's energy transition and the realisation of a true hydrogen island' commented Mario Porcu, Sotacarbo president.

Within the Recover project, research is conceived as the natural continuation of the mine's ‘energy vocation’, which is already at the centre of the Carbonia municipal administration's strategies for the protection and enhancement of its building heritage. "With the official granting of this funding, another important step is being taken towards the recovery of the Serbariu Great Mine, which becomes a centre for zero-emission energy systems" explains Mayor Pietro Morittu with satisfaction ‘in the past, the mine was a manifestation of modernity; the Recover project integrates Sotacarbo research for new high-efficiency technologies with the protection of the building's identity and the mining context that distinguishes it.’

The relevance of the collaboration is emphasised by Giacomo Cao, CRS4's CEO: ’The Centre is particularly proud of the outstanding result achieved, which demonstrates once again how important teamwork is at territorial level. We will contribute to the design of the micro-network for the management of hydrogen storage for the energy self-supply of the building involved in the project'.

Regional councillor Fabio Usai draws attention to the spin-offs at territorial level: ‘It is good to see that the Ministry's technicians have shared their appreciation for a project that I have always supported both for the importance of hydrogen research and for the repercussions on the territory. I am talking both about small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups that will be able to be engaged in the production of plant components and equipment, and about the scientific-training tourism that the entire Sulcis Iglesiente area can benefit from, with students, researchers, and technicians from companies from all over the world, who will be able to train at the Research Centre. Together with the President of the Region, we immediately shared the need to enhance Sotacarbo's operations, promoting a series of legislative measures preparatory to its defence and, of course, its financial strengthening; also overcoming the scepticism, short-sightedness, and resistance of those who, more than others, have struggled to understand its important potential.’