Spain, France and Portugal are preparing the world’s first major hydrogen corridor. European Union. The pharaonic project called H2Med, which will unite the three countries in two parts and is scheduled to be operational in 2030 the hydrogen revolution that aims to be the key to the energy transition gradually replacing natural gas in economic sectors where electrification is difficult.
The major pipeline project was stylishly presented by the leaders of the three countries at a summit in Alicante earlier this month –Pedro Sanchez, Emmanuel Macron Y Antonio Costa– and even then, there was friction between Moncloa and Elysium over what type (or types) of hydrogen would be transported by the future hydraulic conduit.
“The will is to carry low-carbon hydrogen, clean hydrogen that can be obtained from renewable sources or nuclear,” Macron himself wrote in his corporate statement. France pointed out the possibility of using the infrastructure to transport hydrogen produced with energy from its nuclear reactors.known as yes pink hydrogen.
The French president’s comment shocked the Spanish government, which hastened to clarify the claim that the corridor will be used only for transportation. green hydrogen, produced by electricity generated from renewable energies. After friction, Spain assured that H2Med will only serve the transport renewable hydrogen.
The three countries submitted to the European Commission last week to accept H2Med’s candidacy as a project of common interest (PCI, its acronym) and receive up to half of the €2,850 million required to build the two divisions. Water pipes for connection with Portugal (between Celorico da Beira and Zamora) and France (between Barcelona and Marseille, with an underwater tube).
This submitted technical project Brusselss thinks H2Med will only be used to transport green hydrogen and that it will only serve to export renewable gas from the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of the world Europe without anticipating the upstream, as several official sources from the Prensa Ibérica group to El Periódico de España confirm, familiar with the content of the proposal. “H2Med was submitted to the Commission only as a green hydrogen project,” they say.
The documents submitted to the European Commission to obtain European funding clearly reveal that: Under no circumstances is the hydroduke planned to be used to import hydrogen from Spain. In France and designed facilities, which can be produced with electricity from France’s nuclear power plants A compressor is not included, which would make it possible to reverse the flow in Marseille, Explains state resources.
As an energy source, electricity is needed for hydrogen production. However, electrolysis of water occurs, which separates hydrogen (H2) from oxygen (O). It is considered “green hydrogen”, where the required electricity is obtained from renewable energy sources such as wind or solar. “Pink hydrogen” is hydrogen where electrolysis is done with energy from nuclear power plants, and since France is a nuclear power, the hydrogen it produces will use this type of energy.
Brokers in Spain
Spain wants to be first centre world’s renewable hydrogen seeks funds from the European Union to finance half of the billion-dollar investments that will be required for this. In addition to the international H2Med corridor agreed upon by Spain, France and Portugal to transport green gas to Europe, the Spanish government is also seeking community funding to build two large internal hydro channels that will connect hydrogen production facilities across the country. poles consumer industries and two underground storage facilities.
And Spain has also submitted a request for recognition as PCI and Cartagena for a major green hydrogen transport corridor connecting Huelva, Puertollano (Ciudad Real), Zamora and Gijón, and another corridor connecting Gijón, Barcelona. It did not disclose the amount of investment announced and planned by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Moreover, The executive also requests funding. EU Building two underground storage facilities 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.
This The design basis of these infrastructures is the so-called Spanish hydrogen backbone.that Enagás, the manager of the gas system and the operator of the gas transport network, has been designing for several years. Green hydrogen, which does not produce 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 included reclaiming a new gas pipeline project with France through the Pyrenees (repurchasing the old MidCat) and – as an alternative or complementary – 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. It will connect Barcelona and Marseille with a tube that will be used specifically to transport green hydrogen under the sea from 2030.and this 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 converted to transport hydrogen. It has already developed previous work, which showed that 3,000 million will be allocated for its construction.
According to official sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the Executive is reorienting its foreign gas trade strategy and will abandon further international linkages serving the transport of natural gas in order to make a full commitment to the future renewable hydrogen revolution. By Teresa Ribera, Vice President.
Spain has gas pipelines connecting its 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 focusing on green hydrogen plants that will serve in the future anyway. decarbonize sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as large industry and heavy transport.