Agreement denied: the Region says no to the Giorgino regasification plant. Alessandra Todde's government does not want a fixed land-based facility near the city—it would be located a short distance from the Villaggio Pescatori—when, it was argued at Villa Devoto, the government guidelines expressed in the Prime Ministerial Decree favor floating, and therefore offshore, structures. These are not definitive.
The government's document is a blow to the process initiated in 2017 by IS Gas, which handed over the baton to Sardinia LNG. The € 120 million investment project envisions "the construction of an LNG regasification terminal and a storage facility with a capacity of 22,000 cubic meters, complete with a dockside structure for connecting and unloading LNG from LNG carriers, as well as a set of cryogenic pipelines to transport the fluid to the facility area. The terminal," it continues, "will include the installation of 18 cryogenic tanks, 9 pumping units, 40 ambient air vaporizers, and a station for filtering, measuring, and odorizing natural gas."
The Ministry of the Environment issued a positive assessment of the project's environmental compatibility on March 24, 2021. But while Rome agreed, some in Cagliari took their time responding. So much so that Sardinia LNG sent warnings to the Region and filed an appeal with the Regional Administrative Court (TAR). Last March, the administrative court ordered the Regional Council to respond within 30 days. The Todde government complied, denying the agreement.
The resolution recalls the negative opinion expressed by the Cagliari city council last February: Palazzo Bacaredda had taken on board the concerns of the residents of the fishing village who feared the project's potential negative impact.
Todde, who brought the resolution to the Council, cited "the final text of the Prime Ministerial Decree on the methane gasification of Sardinia, which envisages only floating regasification terminals in the port area, as a specific strategy tied to the temporary nature of the use of methane as a transitional energy source, a key element in the regional energy transition strategy." Meanwhile, the proposed regasification plant, " of a fixed and structural nature, is instead part of a rigid, long-term technological framework, inconsistent with the regional planning vision, which instead requires agile, scalable solutions that are not suited to permanently constraining the territory." Hence the rejection. The company's appeals are virtually certain.
