BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 28. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved a loan of up to €264 million to Italian energy infrastructure company Snam, aimed at accelerating the integration of biomethane production plants into Italy’s energy network and supporting the country’s transition towards a more sustainable and diversified energy system, Trend reports via the EIB.
The first tranche of €140 million was signed in the presence of EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti and Snam CEO Agostino Scornajenchi.
The financing will support the construction of 240 kilometres of new gas pipelines dedicated to connecting biomethane production plants—using renewable sources—to the national gas transmission network. Once completed, the infrastructure will have the capacity to transport up to 12,000 GWh of energy annually, equivalent to approximately 1.13 billion cubic metres of biomethane.
This initiative contributes directly to the objectives of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which foresees domestic biomethane production reaching 5 billion cubic metres per year by 2030.