Juncker Plan in Italy: European Investment Bank lends €250 million to Italian agency for research into clean fusion energy

The European Investment Bank is providing €250 million of financing under the Juncker Plan’s European Fund for Strategic Investments towards the new scientific and technological hub of ENEA, Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development. This forms part of a total investment of €500 million for the facility which will be hosted in Frascati near Rome. The project will also receive funding from EUROfusion, the EU’s programme to produce safe, clean nuclear energy. ENEA has created the facility to respond to some of the key scientific and technological issues surrounding nuclear fusion, in particular the question of how to control the large amount of heat generated. Some 1,500 scientists and technicians will be involved in the project. Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, responsible for Climate Action and Energy, said: “To achieve a climate neutral Europe by 2050, we need to keep investing in new technological solutions. Fusion is a potential source of safe, non-carbon emitting and virtually limitless energy. If we succeed in making a breakthrough in this technology it could significantly contribute to our efforts to make Europe the first climate neutral major economy. Today’s investment decision is one step towards this objective.” As of September 2019, the Juncker Plan has mobilised €433.2 billion of additional investment, including €67.4 billion in Italy. The Plan is currently supporting 972,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Europe.