This Tuesday, the European Commission selected as projects of common interest (including BarMar) a hydrogen project in Sines, which it guaranteed was not under investigation, and the maritime gas pipeline suitable for ‘green’ hydrogen (including BarMar) to receive community funding.
This concerns the new list of projects of common and mutual interest of the European Union (EU), released today, which includes 166 cross-border energy initiatives eligible for community financial support because they comply with the Green Ecological Pact.
One of the projects is therefore the H2Sines.RDAM electrolyser, which an official source from the European Commission assured that Lusa is not the one under investigation in Portugal.
“The information I have is that they have similar names, but it is a different project,” said the same Energy Department source, indicating that he had no further information on investigations in the country into the hydrogen and lithium sector.
“We have not been informed about this case. The information we have is what we see in the news, but the investigation is in the hands of the Portuguese authorities,” the source told Lusa.
H2Sines.RDAM is a maritime supply chain of renewable liquid hydrogen between this port and Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.
As regards hydrogen interconnections in Western Europe, Brussels has chosen as a project of common interest the ‘Portugal – Spain – France – Germany corridor’, which will connect the internal hydrogen infrastructure in Portugal, the interconnections between Portugal and Spain, an internal infrastructure in Spain, the includes ‘corridor’. Hydrogen interconnection between Spain and France, currently known as BarMar” and also infrastructure in France with connection to Germany.
In October 2022, the governments of Portugal, France and Spain reached an agreement to accelerate interconnections in the Iberian Peninsula, abandoning the existing gas-only project for another project providing for a maritime gas pipeline to, in addition to initially transporting this fossil gas, fuel, if intended, for ‘green’ hydrogen in the future.
The heads of government and state of these three countries – António Costa, Pedro Sánchez and Emmanuel Macron – decided to move forward with a ‘Green Energy Corridor’, by sea, between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar) instead of crossing the Pyrenees ( MidCat).
At the time, Prime Minister António Costa admitted that he hoped this new project could be financed with European funds, through the Connecting Europe Mechanism (MIE), but to do so it would have to be considered a project of common interest.
This classification, which is now being awarded, covers infrastructure initiatives for the EU’s energy systems, such as interconnectors, allowing countries to benefit from accelerated permitting and financing procedures.
Projects of common interest are selected because they are considered essential infrastructure for delivering the European internal energy market and helping the EU achieve its energy and climate goals.
They can then be candidates for European funding, with the first call for plans under the MIE taking place in the first half of next year and the results expected at the end of 2024.
Another Portuguese project included in this list concerns electricity interconnections, such as an interconnection between Portugal and Spain, between Beariz (Ourense) and Ponte de Lima and Vila Nova de Famalicão.
“Today the Commission is taking a new step to prepare the EU’s energy system for the future, by adopting the first list of projects of common interest and projects of mutual interest, fully in line with the European Green Deal,” said the community board announced today in a statement.
Projects will benefit from simplified permitting and regulatory procedures and will subsequently be eligible for EU financial support under the CEF.
Source: DN
