Spain strengthens its leading position green hydrogen Within the European Union and proof of this is that it is the country that has managed to see the highest number of initiatives included in the EU’s list of European Projects of Common Interest. This is a very relevant list of almost 70 projects across the Union. It is planned to invest up to 50 billion euros.
The list was approved by the European Commission on 25 October and will now be sent to the European Parliament and Council for approval.
The list specifically includes 68 hydrogen projects, among which BarMar hydro canal, which was supposed to connect Barcelona and Marseille It will include an investment of 2 billion 135 million dollars as part of the H2Med corridor.
But there are more projects shortlisted. Similar electrolyzersThere are three Repsol projects: Spain’s largest electrolyzer with a capacity of 150 MW, called the T-HYNET project; the 2.5 MW electrolyzer that this company owns in Bilbao together with Petronor, and the 100 MW electrolyser in the first phase of the company’s consortium with Enagás Renovable and Engie.
So it means hydrogen valleysAndalusian Hydrogen Valley, developed by Cepsa, and Asturias H2 Valley, developed by Portuguese energy company EDP, were selected.
And eventually they show up too two storage projects Backed by Enagás: H2 storage Kuzey-1 and H2 storage Kuzey-2, valued at 580 and 157 million euros respectively.
Lack of certainty regarding potential hydrogen demand
However, not everyone is happy with Spain’s leadership in hydrogen. Regarding H2Med, dozens of organizations last week expressed their concerns about H2Med’s inclusion in the list through a letter sent to the participants of the High-Level Decision-Making Meeting, where the project list was approved.
“Green hydrogen is still in a very early stage of developmentanyone. It is an immature technology in terms of large-scale production, transportation and storage. “For the EU to make a real contribution to its climate goals, further advances in technology and efficiency are needed to reduce costs and be considered economically competitive.”
Many experts question the feasibility of the projects given the circumstances Uncertainty about whether there will be such demand for green hydrogen transportation in the coming years.
According to Michael Liebreich, an energy transition expert and co-founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the recently approved list includes “thousands of kilometers of Pipelines from places where hydrogen supply is not possible to places where hydrogen is not needed; ammonia import facilities for cargoes unlikely to be produced; or even a liquid hydrogen receiving facility for which a carrier fleet would never be built.”
“The list reflects the control exercised by lobbyists and the gas industry over EU energy and industrial policy rather than the realities of physics, economics and finance,” he adds.
Arjun Flora, European director of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), also agreed that there is not enough clarity about the future dynamics of hydrogen supply and demand in the capital to undertake such intensive projects.
“Unconnected megaprojects”
“Filtering [de este listado de proyectos] It shows the EU is considering spending tens of billions of euros of taxpayers’ money construction of disconnected hydrogen megaprojectsDespite the enormous uncertainty about the supply, demand and price of hydrogen in the future,” says Flora.
In a recent article published in Euractiv, experts question the viability of the BarMar project. “In 2030 [no habrá] The French Government’s working paper states that Europe “lacks the infrastructure for a decarbonised H2 import strategy”.
The lack of hydrogen supply has also recently become evident in Spain, where ArcelorMittal has asked the Government for flexibility in meeting promised deadlines for a multi-million dollar subsidy. ArcelorMittal has committed to using green hydrogen by 2025, but argues that this will not be possible due to a lack of green hydrogen supply.
EC approved document: https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/infrastructure/projects-common-interest/key-cross-border-infrastructure-projects_en
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