The Sarpom refinery in Trecate, Novara, has gone live with one of Italy's largest green hydrogen production facilities, marking a concrete step in the country's effort to decarbonize heavy industry and road transport. The facility, inaugurated in mid-June 2026, came online exactly on the PNRR deadline of June 30, 2026. The €20M project, financed primarily through National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) funds, positions northern Italy as a testing ground for Europe's hydrogen economy—and it could reshape how refineries operate across the continent.
Why This Matters
• Dual-use production: The facility will both decarbonize the Sarpom refinery itself by replacing fossil-derived hydrogen and supply two public hydrogen fueling stations in Casale Monferrato (Piedmont) and Arluno (Lombardy).
• PNRR in action: €16.8M came from the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE) and Piedmont Region under the "Production of hydrogen in disused industrial areas" tender, with an additional €4M for road transport infrastructure from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
• Timeline pressure: All PNRR-funded hydrogen projects must be operational by June 30, 2026—this facility opened exactly on schedule.
How the Facility Works
The Trecate plant integrates a 4 MW PEM electrolyzer powered by two solar fields totaling 6.7 MWp. This setup can produce between 170 and 200 tonnes of green hydrogen annually, with technical capacity exceeding 600 tonnes per year. The electrolyzer splits water using renewable electricity, yielding zero-emission hydrogen—a stark contrast to the refinery's current practice of extracting hydrogen from hydrocarbons, a process that releases significant CO₂.
Giuseppe Buonerba, director of the Sarpom refinery, described the launch as a "truly special day," emphasizing the plant's role in demonstrating that industrial sites can transition away from fossil-based processes without halting operations. The refinery, part of the Italiana Petroli (IP) Group, has repurposed a disused section of its sprawling Trecate complex for the hydrogen installation, meeting PNRR criteria that prioritize brownfield redevelopment over greenfield construction.
Open Ecosystem Strategy
Leonardo Caputo, Operations Director of Italiana Petroli and President of Sarpom, framed the investment as more than a private upgrade. "We have created an open ecosystem," he said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "The role of industry is not just to use PNRR funds for its own needs. By building public service stations at Casale Monferrato and Arluno, we are putting resources we partly obtained back into the territory—offering a new energy actor that is completely zero-emission. This is the role of a major company like ours: to develop supply in order to attract demand."
The two IP-branded hydrogen refueling stations will cater primarily to heavy-duty vehicles, including trucks and regional buses. Italy's PNRR roadmap envisions 38 to 40 hydrogen refueling stations operational by the end of 2026, up from just two in 2024 (Bolzano and Mestre). The Trecate-linked stations are part of a €230M national experiment in hydrogen mobility, with most infrastructure concentrated along northern transport corridors such as the A22 Brennero motorway and the A4 Turin-Trieste axis.
Northern Italy's Hydrogen Valley
The Sarpom facility is a cornerstone of the so-called Hydrogen Valley of the Northwest, a regional cluster designed to link production, distribution, and end-use of green hydrogen across Piedmont, Lombardy, and neighboring areas. The valley concept, borrowed from similar initiatives in Germany and the Netherlands, aims to create a closed-loop hydrogen economy where industrial producers supply transport and logistics operators within a defined geographic zone.
Italy's National Hydrogen Strategy, updated in November 2024, calls for 52 hydrogen production plants in disused industrial areas and 48 road refueling stations to be operational by mid-2026. The Trecate plant, which came online precisely on schedule, is among the first wave to meet that deadline. The site is also pre-wired for future expansion, with space allocated for additional electrolyzer capacity and a dedicated refueling station for hydrogen tanker trucks.
What This Means for Residents
For people living in Novara and the surrounding provinces, the immediate impact is twofold: job continuity at the refinery as it transitions to cleaner processes, and the availability of hydrogen fuel for heavy vehicles along the Piedmont-Lombardy corridor. The two IP stations in Casale Monferrato and Arluno are expected to serve regional logistics fleets, municipal bus operators, and early-adopter trucking companies testing hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Longer term, the success or failure of the Trecate model will influence whether other Italian refineries—many of which face mounting pressure to decarbonize or close—follow suit. The IP Group's "open ecosystem" approach, which makes publicly funded hydrogen available to third-party users, contrasts with closed-loop models where production stays entirely within a single company. If demand materializes, the model could be replicated at other industrial sites across the Po Valley and beyond.
For consumers, the short-term effect on fuel prices or vehicle availability is likely minimal. Hydrogen vehicles remain rare in Italy, and the technology is not yet competitive with diesel for most commercial applications. But the infrastructure is being laid now to enable a shift over the next decade, particularly as EU emissions standards tighten for trucks and buses.
Government Backing and Broader Context
Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, who sent a video message to the inauguration, called the Trecate plant "a signal of importance for the Novara area and for hydrogen as a strategic energy vector." He highlighted the project as an example of efficient PNRR spending, noting that the government is pursuing short-, medium-, and long-term hydrogen development scenarios through 2050. A draft framework law for hydrogen development is also in the works, designed to streamline permitting and encourage private investment.
Italy's hydrogen ambitions are modest compared to Germany's 10 GW electrolyzer target by 2030 or Spain's 12 GW goal, but the country is positioning itself as a Mediterranean hydrogen hub, potentially importing green hydrogen from North Africa and distributing it via pipeline to Central Europe. The Trecate facility, while relatively small at 4 MW, serves as a proof of concept for integrating renewable-powered electrolyzers into existing industrial infrastructure.
European Comparison
Across Europe, green hydrogen projects are proliferating, driven by the European Hydrogen Bank, which recently awarded nearly €1.1B to nine production projects, and by national strategies in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Denmark. Germany's Holland Hydrogen 1 facility in Rotterdam—a 200 MW electrolyzer operated by Shell—dwarfs the Trecate plant, and the Netherlands is building a 9,000 km hydrogen pipeline network by repurposing existing natural gas lines. Spain is pursuing mega-projects like HyDeal España, a 3.3 GW complex designed to supply steelmakers and fertilizer producers.
Italy's approach is more incremental, focusing on retrofitting industrial sites and establishing regional clusters before committing to large-scale backbone infrastructure. The North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley, a cross-border initiative with Slovenia and Croatia, aims to have 17 pilot projects operational by the end of 2026, covering the full hydrogen value chain from production to end use.
Challenges Ahead
• Production costs: Green hydrogen currently costs €4–€6 per kilogram, compared to less than €2 for fossil-derived "grey" hydrogen. The Trecate plant benefits from PNRR subsidies that close part of that gap, but the economics are still unfavorable without policy support.
• Infrastructure gaps: Italy's projected 38 to 40 refueling stations by 2026 will be spread thinly across the country, making long-haul hydrogen trucking impractical outside the northern corridors. The EU's Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) mandates a hydrogen station every 200 km along the TEN-T core network by 2030, but Italy's national deployment plan is not due until 2027.
• Policy uncertainty: The Auctions-as-a-Service mechanism used in Spain and the European Hydrogen Bank's funding model are designed to address production costs, but Italy has not yet committed to a long-term subsidy regime beyond the PNRR period.
Investment Signal
The Trecate inauguration is less about immediate market disruption and more about de-risking future investment. By demonstrating that a refinery can integrate green hydrogen production without halting operations, the Sarpom project provides a template for other industrial players weighing similar upgrades. The IP Group's willingness to build public refueling stations also signals that energy companies see hydrogen mobility as a viable business line, not just a compliance exercise.
For now, the Hydrogen Valley of the Northwest remains a pilot. But if the refueling stations in Casale Monferrato and Arluno attract steady traffic, and if the refinery's decarbonization metrics hold up under scrutiny, expect other refineries, chemical plants, and steel mills in the Po Valley to follow the Trecate playbook.
