ENERGY: THE SARDEGNA REGION LAUNCHES CONSULTATION WITH TERNA AND LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS ON THE TYRRHENIAN LINK

The project, in which the Italian grid operator will invest approximately € 3.7 billion, will allow for further development of renewable sources and will make a decisive contribution to the decarbonisation of the island

Rome, 3 May 2021 – With the first technical panel convened by the Region of 7 May, the consultation phase between Terna and local administrations on the Tyrrhenian Link, the undersea power line that will connect Campania to Sicily and the latter to Sardinia, begins. In addition to the Region and Terna, all the parties interested in the project will take part: the Ministry of Culture, the Metropolitan City of , the municipalities of , , , , , Quartu Sant'Elena, Agenzia del Demanio dello Stato (State Property Office), Arpa Sardegna, Legambiente, Lipu, the WWF, Italia Nostra, Confagricoltura and Coldiretti.

With this first act, therefore, a fundamental phase for the process of sharing the project with the community comes to life, in preparation for presenting the authorization application to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, during which Terna will submit the hypotheses of the cable route and the location planned for substations to local institutions and will analyse their observations and evaluate proposals for project optimisation. The project agreed on will then be shared during the public consultation phase with all interested citizens. In particular, President Solinas appreciated that the Tyrrhenian Link project is in line with the request made to Terna to pay particular attention to the landscape, designing, wherever possible and appropriate, the new power lines to be completely underground.

The Tyrrhenian Link, for which Terna will invest approximately € 3.7 billion, involving approximately 250 companies, including local ones, in the construction of the project, is a strategic project for Sardinia and for the entire Italian electricity system. Its completion, in fact, represents a decisive step for the decommissioning of the most polluting power plants on the island, contributing to decarbonisation and ecological transition. In addition, the new project will contribute to greater integration between the different market areas and a more effective use of energy flows from renewable sources, which are constantly increasing, ensuring an improvement in the reliability of

the grid and the entire electricity system. The new connection is a cutting-edge project that involves the construction of two undersea power lines (one from Campania to Sicily and one from Sicily to Sardinia) for a total of 950 km of 1000 MW direct current connection.