Germany will join the project for new hydrogen transport links known as H2MED, agreed last October between Portugal, Spain and France, the governments of the countries involved announced on Sunday.
“We decided to expand H2MED, which unites thanks to European funds [quando estiver concretizado] Portugal, Spain and France, to Germany, which will be a partner in the infrastructure of this project,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the end of the Franco-German summit that took place in Paris.
Macron added that there is “a will” to promote green hydrogen at European level.
The Spanish government also announced in a statement the agreement for “Germany to join H2MED”.
This is the “strengthening of the pan-European dimension of H2MED”, which “for the first time in history” could make the Iberian Peninsula a “leading hub of green energy for the whole of Europe”, the Spanish government defends in the same communicated.
“The agreement comes about after negotiations between the governments of the four countries, favored by their deeply Europeanist vision,” says the government of Madrid.
In October, Portugal and Spain reached an agreement with France to build new connections for the transport of green hydrogen, one between Celorico da Beira and Zamora (CelZa) and another between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar), in a project called H2MED.
Last August, German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz had championed the construction of a pan-European ‘pipeline’ from Portugal to Germany to reduce the continent’s dependence on Russian gas and diversify energy sources.
The new energy transport links between Portugal, Spain and France, known as the “Green Energy Corridor”, are gas exclusive and will be hydrogen only, and should be operational by 2030.
The three governments submitted the project to European funds in December.
European funding for H2MED could amount to 50% of the project’s estimated cost, which Portugal, Spain and France estimate at €350 million in the case of CelZa and €2,500 million in BarMar, according to a document released in Alicante in early December , Spain, after a meeting of the Prime Ministers of Portugal and Spain, António Costa and Pedro Sánchez, and of Macron, which was also attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The H2MED will have the capacity to transport 2 million tons of green hydrogen per year between Barcelona and Marseille and 750 thousand tons between Celorico da Beira and Zamora.
These amounts correspond to 10% of the estimated consumption of green hydrogen (H2) in the entire European Union in 2030, which would make this project the first major European corridor for this energy.
This year, the European Union has set a target for 2030 to reduce the use of gas, the consumption of 20 million tons of green hydrogen per year, of which 10 million must be produced within the European area and 10 million imported.
Green hydrogen is produced from renewable energy sources such as solar or wind.
In December, in Alicante, the President of the European Commission welcomed the agreement between Portugal, Spain and France, which she said was in line with the Brussels strategy.
The project “requires on the part of Portugal (…) reconversions of the gas network to bring hydrogen from the production areas to Celorico da Beira and in turn to Spain,” said at the time in Alicante, the Portuguese Environment Minister, Duarte Cordeiro.
At stake are the gas links between Figueira da Foz and Celorico da Beira and those from Monforte to Celorico da Beira, the former of which currently has a “more advanced production potential” and can attract “new hydrogen projects” in addition to those already identified there, said Duarte Cordeiro, who estimated the cost of adapting the connection between Figueira da Foz and Celorico da Beira at 120 million euros.
Source: DN
