Among the protagonists of the Innovation Days of Emilia-Romagna, the roadshow of Il Sole 24 Ore that took place on Thursday, November 6, 2025, was our own Barbara Pennacchi, Sales Specialist Power Generation, from our Engineering Business Unit
Barbara participated with a speech in the paneldedicated to "Solutions for businesses.How to make a company more energy efficient."
"In Cefla, we decided to address the challenge that every Italian company is familiar with: the cost and sustainability of energy.
It is an issue that touches competitiveness, production and our future. We are facing this challenge as pioneers and we are experimenting with a plant at the forefront of clean energy production. It is called NOVA Solution by Cefla."
What does this technology consist of and how does it differ?
"In simple terms, we have brought together two worlds: on the one hand, a frontier technology, namely fuel cells (fuel cells) produced by an American company called Bloom Energy ; on the other hand, our DNA, our historical know-how as plant engineers and cogenerators.
Our NOVA plant produces not only electricity, but also thermal energy. This brings the total efficiency of the plant to close to 80 percent."
How does it work?
"The real magic of this technology, and the reason it is so clean, is how it produces energy. There is no combustion.
Unlike traditional CHP, which burns gas in an engine or turbine, here an electrochemical reaction takes place. Using special solid oxides, the cell directly converts the chemical energy of the fuel (such as gas) into electricity and heat.
This "gentle" process changes everything. Since there is no combustion, we drastically reduce emissions of pollutants. We are talking about those harmful elements such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx) or particles that cause smog and health problems. These are simply absent.
CO2 emissions are also lowered considerably: at the same size, we produce 20 percent less CO2 than conventional CHP."
What can be the benefit to Companies in terms of efficiency, resilience, sustainability?
"This brings us to the key point: what good is all this to Italian companies? The answer has three sides:
IT IS EFFICIENT: This fact is fundamental. The electrical efficiency of our fuel cells is 54 percent, and it is guaranteed. To give you a comparison, a turbine stops at 33% and a conventional engine at 42%. In practical terms, to produce the same amount of electricity, we consume 30% less methane gas. And less consumption means lower costs.
IT'S RESILIENT: NOVA is an on-site energy generation platform. It provides highly reliable, 24/7 energy. Think about what this means for a hospital, a data center, or a company with continuous production cycles. It means making yourself independent of the national power grid and blackouts.
IT'S READY FOR THE FUTURE: This technology not only answers today's problems, it looks to tomorrow. It helps companies meet the EU's 2050 climate neutrality targets. And it is incredibly versatile: It can use natural gas today, but it is already ready for biomethane, biogas, and even hydrogen blend or 100% hydrogen. If we use a "green" fuel like biomethane or green hydrogen, the energy produced is totally renewable."
Concrete Results
"We are not talking about a theoretical project. We are talking about results. At our Cefla plant in Imola, where we installed a NOVA Solution by Cefla system, we have already achieved tangible results in 2024.
We have generated primary energy savings of 196 Tons of Oil Equivalent. More importantly, we have avoided releasing 465 tons of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere.
This technology also has other advantages that describe its elegance: it is very quiet, because it has no rotating mechanical parts. It does not use water, except for a few hours at startup. It uses no lubricating oils, acids or other chemicals.
And it is 'Plug & Play.' We assemble it in our workshops in Imola and install it in record time. To give you an idea, Racing Bull's installation took only two days.
In summary, NOVA Solution by Cefla is our concrete answer to the energy transition. It is a way to provide businesses with energy that is not only cleaner, but also more efficient and safer, already designing a zero net emission future."
Read the article on the website of ilsole24ore.com
Published on November 13, 2025
