Multiple utility services CPL Concordia

MULTIPLE UTILITY

SERVICES CPL Concordia Società Cooperativa, a company founded in Modena in 1899, is a multiutility cooperative group offering products and services in multiple fields. Barbara Rossi spoke to export sales manager Mr Tiziano Zocchi.

The company has come a long way since its beginnings. In fact, from its foundation to the 1930s its main activity was that of land reclamation, excavation, canal digging, embankment construction and laying out of roads. All activities ceased from the late 1930s to the end of the war and then resumed with new technologies allowing for the mechanisation of large parts of the work. The name CPL was acquired in 1948 and slowly the company started to introduce an element of diversification to its activities. The big turning point took place in 1964 when the construction of networks for the distribution of methane gas commenced. The range of activities further developed and expanded in the 1970s and 1980s. It’s in these latter years that the management business began with CPL’s participation in the “methanisation” process of southern Italy. At this time the company entered the district heating, heat management and combined heat and power sectors. Since then all these activities have been consolidated, with the addition of increasingly innovative solutions.

Fulfilling various needs

As a consequence of the fact that its activity spans various fields, CPL Concordia offers several different products, ranging from cogenerators to natural gas volume converters, also including decompression systems for natural gas, and photovoltaic fields.

Mr Zocchi stresses that CPL Concordia is essentially a system integrator, assembling complex systems using elements produced by major international manufacturers. Nearly all of this work is carried out at the company’s main site, located in Concordia sulla Secchia, in the Modena province of the Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy. Activities more closely linked to a geographical area, such as heating management, construction and technological networks maintenance, are carried out at a number of operational sites (40 plus) located all over Italy.

In terms of investments, CPL Concordia has just obtained a new loan of €51 million from a pool of 13 banks, which will be used to finance innovative activities and projects in the renewable energy sector. Furthermore CPL Concordia is engaged in the setting up of the methane gas supply environment for the Sardinia region. In particular it is now in the phase of advanced construction of the gas distribution network, which will supply more than 100 boroughs and in which over €200 million has been invested.

The activities of facility management, such as for schools, hospitals, nursing homes and universities, are mainly targeted at the public sector. Network construction and maintenance and specialised services, such as decompression and odorisation systems, are aimed at the gas distribution sector. On the other hand, cogeneration, trigeneration and renewable sources activities, while including the public sector, also extends to the industrial one.

New ventures

The company mainly operates in Italy but Mr Zocchi pointed out that the opening of branches in Romania and Argentina, where CPL CONCORDIA is engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than 68,000 customers, has been very successful. A similar outcome has been achieved in Tunisia and Algeria, where CPL supplies and installs natural gas decompression systems.

In terms of geographical expansion to new markets, CPL has just started an Indian registered company in New Delhi for the purpose of exploring this challenging and interesting market. The aim would be that of operating in the natural gas distribution and renewable energy sectors.

Future growth will certainly follow an organic route, both at national and international levels, even if, in the right circumstances, acquisitions of interesting and competitive companies shouldn’t be ruled out.

When talking about future horizons, Mr Zocchi reaffirmed the intention of having a harmonious and balanced growth and noted that the target set by the company’s CEO Roberto Casari is that of 30 per cent growth, especially on the international markets.

As a measuring instrument of corporate social responsibility the company has been employing a ‘social account’ since 2002. This in an instrument of self-analysis, knowledge and transparency, considered essential and strategic for the achievement of continuous improvement and in which CPL has made a large investment. The company believes that this instrument plays a crucial role in developing its mission and values and its care for the environment. n