<article><p class="lead">Italian utility Enel will shut down one of the four units of its 2.4GW Brindisi south coal-fired plant starting from next year.</p><p>The Italian economic development ministry authorised the closure of the 605MW unit 2 from 1 January 2021, the company announced today. Enel presented the request in January this year as the first step towards shutting down the whole facility by 2025, aligned with the deadline set in the <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2056654">national energy and climate plan</a>.</p><p>The company also started the permitting process to convert the site to gas.</p><p>This would be done in three phases. The first phase will be the installation of an open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) unit and the phase-out of coal. The second phase will be the installation of a second OCGT, and the third phase will be to convert the OCGTs to combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs).</p><p>The CCGTs will have an installed capacity of 1.7GW and an efficiency of 60pc.</p><p>The new facility is necessary to ensure the phase-out of coal without threatening the security of the national electricity grid, it said. Enel recently presented a <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2098737">similar project</a> for its 875MW coal-fired plant at Fusina, in the municipality of Venice.</p><p>The move is part of a plan the company disclosed in <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1904437">May last year</a> to replace its coal capacity in the country. Enel owns about 6.3GW of coal capacity in Italy — more than three-quarters of the total.</p><p class="bylines"><i>By Fabio Roccon</i></p></article>
