On 31 May 1999, Terna was established within the Enel Group, by way of implementation of Italian Legislative Decree No. 79/99[5] which within the context of the process for the deregulation of the Italian electricity sector, sanctioned the separation between ownership and management of the national transmission grid.[6] On 23 June 2004, following the Prime Minister's Decree issued on 11 May of the same year, Terna was put on sale with an IPO on Borsa Italiana.[7] In November 2005, Terna acquired a business unit from GRTN, as defined by the Prime Ministerial Decree of 11 May 2004. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti became the relative majority shareholder.[8] In 2010 Terna joined Desertec, a project aimed at producing and transmitting renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to meet local needs and be assigned in part to the European interconnected grid.[9][10] In 2011, the Terna Group reorganized its corporate structure, establishing a holding company overseeing two fully owned operational subsidiaries: Terna Rete Italia and Terna Plus, each with its own CEO and board of directors.[11] In 2013, Terna initiated strategic projects, including the “Capri-Torre Annunziata” submarine cable connecting Capri to mainland Italy.[12][13] The same year, Terna and its French counterpart RTE began work on enhancing the Italy-France interconnection via the new “Piedmont-Savoy” line,[14][15] which became operational in 2023.[16] In 2015, Terna acquired the high-voltage grid of the FS Italiane Group[17] and started developing new national and international interconnection infrastructures, including SA.CO.I.3 (Italy-Corsica-Sardinia)[18][19] and links with Montenegro (inaugurated in 2019)[20][21] and Austria (operational in 2023).[22][23] To support efficiency improvements and environmental protection investments in its national infrastructure, Terna issued its first Green bond worth €750 million in July 2018,[24] becoming the first Italian utility to do so.[25] Additional green hybrid bonds followed in 2022 (€1 billion)[26] and 2024 (€850 million).[27] In 2022, Terna launched the Tyrrhenian Link interconnection project between Campania and Sicily,[28][29] followed in 2023 by the Adriatic Link project between Marche and Abruzzo.[30][31] That year, Terna also activated the submarine connection between Elba Island and Piombino.[32] Internationally, the company developed the world's longest direct-current cable laid along a highway between Italy and France[33] and initiated the first submarine direct-current connection between Europe and North Africa, linking Italy and Tunisia.[34][35] In April 2023, Giuseppina Di Foggia was appointed CEO and General Manager, becoming the first woman to lead a major publicly listed Italian company.[36][37] The same year, Terna launched its 2023-2032 Development Plan,[38] featuring over 30 infrastructure projects, including the Hypergrid project,[39] utilizing high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technologies to double exchange capacity and achieve Italy’s energy transition and security objectives.[40] The Plan was updated in 2025.[41][42]
On 6 November 2024, Terna signed a binding agreement with Areti, a company controlled by Acea, for the acquisition of part of the high-voltage power grid in the metropolitan area of Rome, marking a step in the process of streamlining and unifying the management of the national transmission grid.[43]
In March 2025, Terna Energy Solutions, the Group company managing non-regulated activities, was reorganized by integrating expertise previously managed by other subsidiaries. Specifically, Altenia was established, bringing together all system integrator activities that had previously been managed separately by LT, Terna Energy Solutions, and Avvenia.[44]
Also in 2025, the Terna Foundation, established in July 2024, was officially presented to the public to promote greater inclusion and broad access to the world of energy through projects and initiatives focused on three main areas of intervention: the dissemination of an energy culture, promoting literacy also through educational initiatives involving younger generations; combating energy poverty; and programs that foster access to the labor market and new professional opportunities in the energy sector.[45][46]
Operations
Terna's assets include:[1]
To safeguard its assets, Terna has created an organization capable of protecting the company's physical and technological infrastructures, also through the prevention and management of episodes of corporate fraud. In this framework, in order to guarantee the maximum safeguarding of said infrastructures and investments, it has signed memoranda of understanding, first of its kind and type with the Ministry of the Interior, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza.
- 75,236 km of lines
- 915 transformation and switching stations
- 1 National Control Center (NCC)
- 4 Control centers
- 30 lines of interconnections with other countries (CTI)
- SA.PE.I. with Sardinia island, one of the longest underwater cables in the world (435 km), with a capacity of 1000 MW[57][58]
- 28 synchronous condensers in South Italy[59]
Honours
Certificate and Golden Bronze Medal of Excellence, First Class, for Public Merit[90]
"For participation in the seismic event of April 6, 2009, in Abruzzo, due to the extraordinary contribution made with the deployment of human and instrumental resources to overcome the emergency." — Rome, Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers, October 11, 2010
Awards
- 2010 and 2013: Terna received the International Utility Award from the Edison Electric Institute as the best-performing European utility for total shareholder return over the past three years.[91]
- 2019: Terna ranked first in the Electric Utilities sector of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the second consecutive year.[92][93]
- 2023: Terna won the Best ESG Rating Award from Standard Ethics for its commitment to biodiversity protection.[94]
- June 2023: The Edison Electric Institute awarded Terna the International Edison Award for its innovative Italy-France electrical interconnection project, which is entirely invisible and environmentally impact-free.[95][96]
- In 2025, Terna obtained the Top Employers Italy 2025 Certification awarded by the Top Employers Institute, a global human resources certification body.[97][98]
