Ribera Rodriguez, Spain’s energy minister, assured on Wednesday that “nothing changes” in terms of electrical interconnections from the Iberian Peninsula to the European energy network, regarding the agreements signed since 2015.
“The forecasts for the pending electrical connections were not affected at all,” the Spanish minister assured, recalling that “one submarine connection under construction through the Bay of Biscay, two pending connections through the Pyrenees” is planned.
During his speech in Luxembourg, in the margins of an extraordinary Energy Council, the minister recalled that the Iberian Peninsula always “depends on the goodwill of France” as regards energy connections to the European network, since at that level it is the only change that had been happening since 2015.
“For the first time we heard the President of the Republic or Emmanuel Macron insist on the need to strengthen and speed up electrical connections and in response the governments of Spain and Portugal have stated that we fully agree with this approach and that we must have identified specific projects so that we don’t lose the time horizon to have 15% electrical interconnection by 2030,” he said.
Ribera Rodriguez hopes the pending electrical connections between Portugal and Spain can continue “as soon as possible”, within a specific “calendar” for their completion.
“There are three electrical interconnections between Spain and Portugal that are not yet operational and that were agreed in 2015 by the governments of Portugal, Spain and France,” he recalled, indicating that “one of them is under construction and is expected to be completed soon.” will be completed as soon as possible.” if possible.
“There are two that have to present their calendar and be activated in the coming months and within the deadlines corresponding to their construction and execution,” he added.
The clarification comes after the PSD claimed that António Costa was present in parliament to explain the terms of the agreement reached at the political level between Portugal, Spain and France on an interconnection of a pipeline of renewable gases between Barcelona and Marseille.
The initiative of the three countries raised doubts in Portugal as to whether this project would mean abandoning the previous plan to cross the Pyrenees to bring Iberian energy to Europe. At the end of the extraordinary meeting in Luxembourg, the Environment and Energy Minister, Duarte Cordeiro, clarified: “The PSD came to say publicly that this agreement has harmed Portugal because, compared to the 2015 agreement, two interconnections would have fallen in the Pyrenees,” the minister said, assuring “no electrical connections have been lost in the Pyrenees”.
“So the question is whether with this agreement we will have more connections than in 2015 or if we will have the same ones. And therefore, [as declarações da ministra espanhola] are not proof that there are no changes with regard to the electrical interconnections that were planned for 2015”.
“The 2015 agreement was an agreement that was blocked, a handful of nothing, insofar as it was not guaranteed or funded. And there was a block on the part of France regarding the implementation, from the beginning, of what was the gas interconnection , he recalled, saying that “the three countries unblocked the gas interconnection by finding a Barcelona-Marseille solution as an alternative to the previous gas connection through the Pyrenees, the gas connection was unblocked”.
“It states that countries maintain their intentions to expand electrical interconnections and therefore it clearly indicates a will to continue strengthening electrical interconnections,” he emphasized.
Source: DN
