Italia secures her energy supply. A regasification ship arrives at the port of Piumbino in the midst of a strong neighborhood response
A new floating storage and regasification unit arrived in Tuscany this Sunday from Singapore.
The Golar Tundra will receive liquefied natural gas from other ships, to regasify it and feed the Italian national network.
A key project in Italy’s plan to reduce its dependence on Russian gas after the invasion of Ukraine, the same one that led it to sign new agreements with partners such as Algeria and Libya.
However, the residents of the port of Piombino do not agree and oppose this decision from the beginning.
They say it will pose health and safety risks.
Sergio Tognarellifrom the Together Free for Health Committee, explains: “Our request is to place the ship in a place that is safe for the population and does not harm the environment, as was done in Livorno, where the ship was placed more than 20 km from the port in a fairly safe area. Here, instead, they want to put it inside the port.”
Francesca Marinoat the head of the La plaza Committee, assures: “This ship is dangerous because in addition to being close to the houses, it must be taken into account that in Livorno it is docked 22 km away and in the 3 miles around it (where the ship is docked ) there is a ban. Here, however, the ban (no use of the surroundings) was set at 150 meters. That is, we have first-class citizens and second-class citizens.”
Despite protests, the location was chosen so that the gas could be easily transported to heavily industrialized northern Italy. Giorgia Melloni’s government assures that it is something temporary and that within three years they will move the ship.
The Golar Tundra can store 170,000 cubic meters of LNG and has an annual regasification capacity of five billion cubic meters.