Significant events for the 2019 financial year

Acea Elabori

Laboratory activities

The Acea Elabori laboratory provides analytical services on different environmental matrices linked to the prescriptions of the reference laws.

In 2019, as part of the analytical activities carried out on water intended for human consumption, analytical services were performed on 12.359 samples and 455.071 analyses were carried out against the 451,365 analyses for 2018. With reference to the checks carried out for wastewater (sewage and treatment systems managed by Group Acea), 12,608 samples were analysed for a total of 251,132 analyses (10,719 samples and 179,197 analyses in 2018).

Engineering activities

Acea Elabori supplies engineering services to the companies in the Water Segment, in particular Acea Ato 2 and Acea Ato 5.

In recent years, the company has consolidated the development of engineering activities in other Energy Infrastructure and Environment Segments of Acea SpA as well, with the design and direction of works for the valorisation of waste and the production of hydroelectric and thermoelectric energy and related "specialist and support" activities.

Also relevant is the Company's commitment to the Environmental Impact Study drawn up on behalf of Acea Ato 5 to obtain, through the EIA procedure, an environmental compatibility assessment of the upgrading and adaptation of the "La Moletta" purification plant in the Municipality of Veroli.

In 2019, the design of the remediation/extension of the water and sewerage networks on behalf of Acea Ato 2 was also developed to support the activities planned under the Single Network Maintenance Contract.

Research and innovation activities

Acea Elabori carries out research and innovation in the water, environmental and energy sectors and develops technical consulting and applied research projects for the companies of the Acea Group, aimed at technological-digital innovation, process optimisation and recovery of materials and energy with a focus on the circular economy and sustainable management, also making use of framework agreements with the scientific community and national and EU funded programmes.

During the year the Unit's mission was revisited following the consolidation of the District Metering and Leak Search (internalised in April 2019 by Acea Ato 2 and Acea Ato 5) and the transfer of activities, now consolidated in the methodological application approaches (functional verification modelling and hydrogeological studies), which have become an integral part of the specialised services provided by Acea Elabori in the field of network and plant design.

Finally, the ACEASMARTCOMP Project was prepared with the invaluable support of the University of Tuscia and Enea, targeting the logic of the Waste Transition and proposing a new model of organic waste management, from large plants to diffuse waste management.

The development of the project, which will make the Company Organic Waste Free as early as 2020 and allow it to patent the system that will then be industrialised, has required extensive development and involved internal and external expertise from many different areas.

TWS

The main activity of the Company is the construction and renovation of works instrumental to the operation of the Integrated Water Service and in particular of water treatment plants – drinking and waste water – as well as design and engineering services related to the activities of plant construction.

In 2019 work continued on the construction contracts acquired on the market prior to the Company's entry into the Acea Group and at the same time the gradual implementation of works for the companies of the Group - specifically Acea Ato 2.

Intra-group activities constitute the new mission of the Company's business, as it can acquire orders from the market to an extent not exceeding 20%, in accordance with regulatory requirements.

Based on the Framework Agreement with Acea Ato 2, a number of orders continued to arrive in 2019 resulting from the identification of occasions when TWS's specific expertise could be useful for solving management problems.

In particular, tasks have been formalised with respect to a particular need of Acea Ato 2, namely to analyse, design and implement the restructuring of treatment plants, in particular for the acquisition of the Water Service from Municipalities. These plants are sometimes in critical situations, and it is therefore necessary to carry out an assessment to identify and implement the best solutions capable of restoring conditions of purification effectiveness and management efficiency in the generally tight schedules agreed to with the Municipalities in charge at the time of acquisition.

Ingegnerie Toscane

The main activity of the Company is the conception and development of projects aimed at the completion of works, understood in the traditional sense of the term: "design, construction supervision, safety coordination, etc.". These activities are complemented by advanced engineering services, carried out in close relationship with the employees of the companies that manage the operational functions of the water service, developing and expanding on the knowledge acquired during management to create the conditions for inspiring innovation in the water sector. In this sense it can be said that the added value of the conception and implementation of a work (or of a new strategy) lies precisely in the extensive knowledge of functional and operational problems that cannot be separated from a strong "working" link between the technicians and the Water Service Operators. 2019 saw a strengthening of the traditional engineering services (design, supervision and safety coordination in the design and execution phases of the works) which will presumably assume greater weight within the services provided by the Company, also as a result of the greater investments of the companies managing the Integrated Water Service, which are the main clients of the works design.