In a bid to explore better opportunities of future cooperation in infrastructure & new technologies for a low-emission economy, the Italian transmission system operator (TSO) Snam has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s State Grid International Development Company (SGID).

According to the sources familiar with the knowledge of the matter, the MoU will focus on the use of progressive technologies to lower the carbon dioxide emissions and create a better sustainable future.

Reportedly, the MoU will also aid the Italian natural gas grid operator to collaborate on China’s rapidly expanding gas-fire power and biogas production projects. It has also been reported that Snam & SGID will work together on the optimization & maintenance of the gas network as well as natural gas storage sites in Portugal and Australia – where SGID already operates.

Marco Alvera, CEO, Snam revealed in a statement that the company is ready to contribute to China’s energy transmission, which is targeting decisively toward achieving greater environmental sustainability by scaling up the natural gas share in its overall energy mix.

Sources cite that the cooperation between Snam and the State Grid is also expected to focus on the development of sustainable mobility with biomethane and methane in the rural areas of China that can be used for possible research & development in power to gas domain. Incidentally, the power to gas energy storage technology easily enables the storage of renewable electricity by transforming it to synthetic methane that is intended for the existing gas infrastructure.

In other news, the Italian TSO with its Spanish and Belgian counterparts, Enagás and Fluxys respectively has also recently inked an agreement for acquiring 66% stake in the Greek TSO DESFA. For the record, DESFA operates a high-pressure transport network of more than 1,500 km and an LNG terminal at Revithoussa.