Priolo Gargallo (Syracuse) 18 October 2023 – Brown2Green Sicily is the new company that will manage the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) cogeneration plant with its low environmental impact and high efficiency, powered by natural gas, in Priolo Gargallo (Syracuse).
This follows the completion of the closing on 17 October 2023 between ERG – through its subsidiary ERG Power Generation S.p.A – and Achernar Energy S.p.A. (a subsidiary of Achernar Assets AG) for the sale of the entire share capital of ERG Power S.r.l, the company that owns the plant itself.
The name of the new company “B2G Sicily”, an acronym for Brown to Green, is certainly a harbinger not only of Achernar’s strong interest of wanting to enhance the existing asset and the know-how of people, but also of wanting to create a history of development and growth in the Priolo industrial site through the implementation of new projects in the field of decarbonization and green economy.
Giancarlo Bellina, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of B2G Sicily commented: “First of all, I would like to thank the Garrone Family with great emotion and heartfelt recognition, for my exciting experiences of 35 years in the companies of the ERG group, to whom I owe a lot for my growth and the personal-professional successes achieved. I am also very honored by the trust placed in me by the Swiss investment company that has appointed me Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer B2G Sicily. We welcome to Sicily the CEO of Achernar Asset AG, Corrado Agusta, and the President of Achernar Energy, Simone Mallardi”.
The CCGT plant has a nominal power of 480 MW, with an annual electricity production of about 2.5 TWh, a production of 1.2 million tons of steam and 4.5 million cubic meters of demineralized water. The new company B2G Sicily is also the owner of a RIU (Internal User Network) through which it is configured not only as a producer but also as an electricity distributor at the Priolo industrial site.
The CCGT plant, which has been awarded Energy Efficiency Certificates due to its high cogeneration efficiency, is essential for the supply of utilities to the Priolo multi-company site through long-term supply contracts. The plant is also essential for the balancing and security of the national electricity grid thanks to the availability of part of its power on the capacity market in accordance with a CM (Capacity Market) contract with Terna.
The operation and management of the plant is guaranteed by 144 people, including technicians and engineers highly specialized in the operation and maintenance of the plants, in the sale of electricity to the market (Energy Management) and in the industrial development of new investments.
Achernar Assets AG is a financially solid holding company which operates in the energy, medical technology, infrastructure and financial services sectors and which has, among its main shareholders, the Agusta family, historically present in the aviation business.
Advisors to the transaction are UniCredit, Chiomenti and Ernst & Young.
