Italian energy company Edison has announced the reopening of its thermoelectric plant in Venice following upgrade work.

The Italian arm of French energy multinational EDF, Edison unveiled the $438m (€400.78m) upgrades to the Marghera Levante plant on Friday, promising to be the most efficient facility of its kind in the country. Refitting work took four years.

The 780MW plant combines the natural gas-firing 515MW turbine with a 265MW steam turbine. Firing at 63% energy efficiency, the plant is among Europe’s most efficient. This in turn reduces CO₂ emissions per kilowatt-hour by as much as 30% and nitrogen oxides per kilowatt-hour by 70%, when compared with the average efficiency of similar Italian plants.

Marghera Levante was Edison’s first thermoelectric plant, commissioned in 1964. It has been constantly upgraded since.

Nicola Monti, CEO of Edison, praised the efficient technology of the plant, saying: “The new plant of Marghera is a tangible proof of how different technologies can work towards the common goal of decarbonisation, to ensure security of energy supply and economic sustainability.”

The plant is also “technologically ready” for the firing of up to 50% hydrogen, blended with natural gas to make the plant cleaner.

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Monti told Reuters: “We are looking at the future possibility to convert this plant and to use it in an even more sustainable way. Unfortunately, green hydrogen production is not yet competitive compared to natural gas. We will definitely get there within a few years.”

The plant contributes to Edison’s total productive capacity of 7.2GW across its projects. This accounts for 7% of nationwide power generation in Italy. In 2021, the company sold 49% of its renewable business to Credit Agricole Assurances. The Edison Renewables Platform, which accounts for 1.1GW of productive capacity, was valued at $2.2bn following the sale.