wants to be spain first ‘center’ hydrogen world renewable and ask for funds from funds European Union to finance half of the billion-dollar investments that will be needed to achieve this. beside H2Med international corridor agreed between Spain, France and Portugal To transport green gas to Europe, the Spanish government is also seeking community funding to build two large inland hydro channels and two underground storage facilities that will operate across the country linking hydrogen production plants and consumer industry poles.
The executive did not submit its candidacy to the European Commission only to consider H2Med as a project of common interest (PIC) and receive assistance up to half of the €2,850 million required for the construction of the two hydro channels to be connected to Portugal (between Celorico da Beira and Zamora) ) and with France (between Barcelona and Marseille, with an underwater tube).
Spain also submitted the petition for a large construction alone. Green hydrogen transport corridor connecting Huelva, Puertollano (Ciudad Real), Zamora and Gijón and another corridor to connect Gijón, Barcelona and Cartagena, As announced by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which did not disclose the planned investment amount. In addition, the Executive is also seeking EU funding to build two. Underground storage for hydrogen in salt cavities in Cantabria and the Basque Country.
The two main transportation corridors are considered a single PCI candidate, while each of the planned warehouses has an independent application that different promoters can join. Generally, projects of a transnational nature are considered PCI, but internal corridors are within the legal framework to qualify for assistance, as they are seen as reinforcers and facilitators of international connections.
The design basis of these infrastructures is the so-called Spanish ‘backbone’ of hydrogenthat Enagás, the manager of the gas system and operator of the gas transport network, has designed for several years. Green hydrogen, which does not generate CO2 emissions as it is produced only with electricity from renewable energies, is planned to be expanded and developed as production and demand increase.
no more pipeline
Spain is committed to the future with green hydrogen and abandons the construction of new international interconnections to transport natural gas. Up until just two months ago, plans had included trying to recover a new gas pipeline project with France through the Pyrenees (repurchasing the old MidCat) and – as an alternative or supplement – launching an underwater gas pipeline with Italy . Neither one nor the other.
Spain and France abandoned the revamped MidCat and replaced it with a new corridor that would connect Barcelona and Marseille under the sea. With a pipe that will be used to transport only green hydrogen from 2030 and will be complemented by another hydrogen-only link between Portugal and Spain.
And the Spanish Government is also preparing to definitively dismantle the ‘megaplan’ to launch an underwater gas pipeline between Italy and Barcelona and Livorno, which will first be used to transport natural gas and then be converted to hydrogen transport. It has already developed previous work, which showed that 3,000 million will be allocated for its construction.
Management reorients its strategy for foreign gas trade and will abandon further international connections A company serving natural gas transport to make a full commitment to the future revolution of renewable hydrogen, as confirmed by official sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, commanded by Vice President Teresa Ribera.
Spain has gas pipelines connecting the gas system to France, Portugal, Algeria and Morocco, and the Government’s plans include not adding a single facility serving the transport of natural gas and, in any case, focusing on future green hydrogen plants. CO2 emissions as it is produced using renewable energies and will serve to decarbonize sectors where electrification is difficult, such as large industry and heavy transport).
from the Spanish gas industry, New hydroelectric project with France and natural gas pipeline project with Italy and simultaneously to increase the capacity to initially export natural gas from Spain to the rest of Europe while waiting for the green hydrogen revolution to become a reality. It’s an option that the government has ruled out.