Italy's Iren to accelerate power grid investments amid heat wave

Iren S.p.A.

Yesterday 18:20

    June 26 (Reuters) - Italian regional utility Iren IREE.MI said on Friday it would accelerate its investment plan for power infrastructure, after recent heat waves caused disruptions and put stress on the electricity grid in the city of Turin.
Turin, where a subsidiary of Iren manages power distribution services, saw an increase of about 30% in electricity consumption caused by high temperatures in recent weeks, the group said in a statement.
The infrastructure development plan envisages €515 million ($586.69 million) of investments in Turin's electricity grid by 2030.
Investments will be focused on strengthening medium voltage power lines, increasing the resilience of the network to extreme weather events and developing a more efficient fault management system, Iren said.
In a separate press release, labor unions lamented a chronic staff shortage at Iren and lack of investments.
($1 = 0.8778 euros)

(Reporting by Mirko Miorelli;Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
((Mirko.miorelli@thomsonreuters.com))