What does it mean for an entrepreneur always to look ahead? It essentially means having a vision ahead of their time, a forward-looking way of thinking. It is precisely these people who have written and continue to write the history of Made in Italy; people like Agostino Re Rebaudengo, for example, an eclectic pioneer of renewable energy in Italy and Chairman of Asja Ambiente Italia S.p.A., a world-leading group in energy transition.
Nothing is destroyed. Everything is transformed (into energy)
Born in Turin in 1959, Agostino Re Rebaudengo realised from a very young age that there can be no real progress without respect for the environment. Thus, in 1995, he founded Asja Ambiente Italia Spa with the aim of designing, building, and managing plants that transform waste into energy, produce clean energy from renewable sources, and reduce CO2 emissions. All this happened two years before the international Kyoto Protocol set emission limits for the first time to limit global warming.
Asja ambiente debuted in 1996 with the start-up of the first two plants for the energetic valorisation of landfill biogas in Vallescura (SP) and Osio Sotto (BG). In the year 2000, the company worked on valorising biogas from the Palermo landfill, one of the largest landfills in Europe; the following year, it started operating in the wind power sector.
TOTEM: evolution of a 100% Made in Italy product
Asja progressively established itself as an industry leader in Italy and abroad and, in 2015, presented Totem 2.0 (Total Energy Module) at the Smart Energy Expo in Verona. This 100% Made in Italy compact microcogenerator evolved from a 1970s prototype conceived by the Fiat Research Centre. Originally, TOTEM was a compact cogenerator capable of simultaneously producing electricity and hot water. It was created with the idea that it could revolutionise the boiler market in Italy, but it never really took off.
Today, the Totem 2.0 micro-cogenerator is an innovative, silent, small-scale electricity and heat-generating machine powered by a fuel of your choice: methane, LPG, biomethane, or biogas. However, it has one thing in common with the old TOTEM. It is a 100% Made in Italy product that uses Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) and FPT Industrial engines, while Magneti Marelli supplies the electronic controls and components.
Grow to innovate, innovate to grow
In 2021, Asja was among the signatories of the open letter to the G2O leaders. Meanwhile, the company has grown into an international group based in Rivoli that has built and operates dozens of plants worldwide. It employs around 200 people, has a turnover of millions of Euros, continues to grow abroad and is a member of Elettricità Futura, an association representing over 70% of the Italian electricity supply chain, of which Agostino Re Rebaudengo is President.
Read about other outstanding Made in Italy companies from Piedmont!