From Cremona to Venice, from Cagliari to Brindisi. Atom will be between us. Those hoping for a future cathedral in the desert will be disappointed. Nevertheless, new nuclear power, and especially fusion power, will become part of our region, especially the industrial region.
This is a changing paradigm according to what emerges from the Conceptual Design Report (CDR) of Gauss Fusion, the European green technology company founded in 2022 to build the continent’s first commercial-scale fusion energy plant, owned by the Malacalza family through Hofima (Italy), Bruker Eas and Ri (Germany), Idom (Spain) and AlsymexAlcen (France) research instruments.
A location mapping study at European level that highlights how Italy is one of the most promising regions for the establishment of factories in the future. Of the 900 potential locations identified in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and the Czech Republic, Italy accounts for the largest share with locations almost 4 times larger than Germany. To be precise, 22 clusters and 196 potential locations.
The north of the country concentrates 7 hub regions, located along the Po river axis between Milan, Cremona and Venice: a strategic corridor that combines a strong industrial density, sufficient network capacity and the presence of an already consolidated energy infrastructure. In this context, the Cremona area is a particularly profitable area due to its proximity to significant high-voltage power plants. The exact names of the identified locations are unknown but the provinces involved, apart from Cremona, are Milan, Venice, Udine, Verona, Turin, Pisa, Ravenna, Grosseto, Pescara, Roma.
In Southern Italy, 15 small clusters have also been identified, mostly located near coastal areas, which represent opportunities for further development within the logic of regional rebalancing and increasing the value of existing infrastructure. The provinces affected here are Naples, Brindisi, Catanzaro, Catania, Cagliari.
“Fusion plants of the future will not be isolated infrastructures, but must be integrated into existing regions, production chains and energy networks. This study shows that Europe – and Italy in particular, with its industrial regions – already has the conditions to accelerate the transition from research to the application of fusion on an industrial scale. This is a concrete step towards a safer, more competitive and truly sovereign energy model”, comments Milena Roveda, CEO of Gauss Fusion.
Carried out over the past year, the study was based on very strict evaluation criteria, including geological, seismological and meteorological conditions, as well as connection to the existing power grid.
The most influential factor is the possible conversion of existing energy infrastructure, thereby minimizing the impact of new construction and optimizing resources: former nuclear sites or decommissioned coal-fired power plants will therefore be high on the list.
