This is the main objective of the Memorandum of Understanding signed today in Rome by Flavio Cattaneo, Terna Chief Executive Officer, and Piero Fassino, President of ANCI, the National Association of Italian Municipalities whose members include 7,318 municipalities representing 90% of the population.

The importance of this agreement lies in the fact that Terna and ANCI – with a view to sustainable development and with the objective of accelerating the implementation of strategic interventions – will work together to harmonize the needs of the electricity system with those of environmental and land protection at the municipal level, with regard to the location of development works for the electricity transmission grid, for which Terna has already invested approx. 8 billion euros since 2005 to date for 2,500 km of new grid and 84 new power stations, and envisages the same amount of investment in the next decade, with approx. 3 billion euros already underway
in 250 sites currently open throughout Italy, providing work every day for 4,000 people and 750 companies. A commitment, that of Terna, both in terms of dispatching as well as the grid which, overall, since 2005 to date, has produced 5.4 billion euros in savings for citizens and businesses.

The agreement envisages, in particular, the establishment of an ANCI and Terna Permanent Steering Committee to define specific tools useful in consultations between the Company and municipalities during implementation of the works contemplated in Terna’s Development Plan. Moreover, specific consultation tables between municipalities and Terna will be set up for individual works to also allow other public bodies involved to participate.

With this Memorandum of Understanding, Terna and ANCI undertake to periodically hold consultations in order to:

jointly promote preventive consultation on local works with the direct involvement of municipalities;

sign a specific Memorandum of Understanding with the municipalities involved concerning the approximate location of works;

implement joint actions in order to inform citizens of the areas involved by interventions in the national electricity grid Development Plan and for mutual exchange of data between Terna and ANCI;

facilitate optimal sharing and agreement with the populations involved concerning electricity infrastructures to be implemented.

"With today’s agreement – said Flavio Cattaneo – Terna and ANCI have jointly embarked on a path of cooperation that sees the local area as absolutely central in the development of the infrastructures that the country needs, in line with Terna’s policy which has always been focused on the sustainability of its investments on the grid. And sustainability means above all creating value for the environment and local areas in which Terna operates. For this reason, concluded Cattaneo, it is essential to share the various problems connected with a new development from the very outset, in order to streamline and accelerate the entire process and agree the locations of works in compliance with the needs of both the electricity system as well those of the local area and the environment".

"ANCI – underlined Piero Fassino – has agreed to the collaboration proposal put forward by Terna, in the hope that the path embarked on together will facilitate dialog with the local area and authorities, listening to the real needs of municipalities, within the context of strategic planning with significant local impact, such as that of electricity transmission and dispatching infrastructures. This not only to find a common ground for discussion and consultation on possible problems that may emerge in the location of infrastructures, but to limit the local impact of interventions, encouraging harmonization between electricity, urban, land, environmental and landscape planning at the local level, facilitate local coordination of energy efficiency policies and the various projects and submit the requests of municipal authorities in their capacity as a producers of energy from renewable sources, raising awareness to avoid bottlenecks in the input grid",