Spain, France and Portugal are moving toward a historic hydrogen corridor designed to connect the Iberian Peninsula with the wider European market. The plan, called H2Med, aims to be operational by 2030 and would run from Portugal through Spain, enter the Mediterranean near Barcelona, and re-emerge in Marseille. Presented at an Alicante summit, the project carries an estimated price tag of around 2.85 billion euros. Supporters expect the European Union to fund roughly half of the cost, but questions remain about the exact type of hydrogen the pipeline will transport.
Spain is pushing for the system to carry only green hydrogen, produced entirely with renewable energy. France, meanwhile, argues that hydrogen generated with nuclear energy should also be eligible for transit. This disagreement marks the first substantive policy split between Madrid and Paris over the infrastructure.
Details of the plan were laid out by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, endorsing the idea and backing broad community support.
Macron has been explicit about his preference: the pipeline should move low-carbon hydrogen produced from renewable energy or clean hydrogen produced with nuclear energy. Sánchez’s government, however, favors a narrower scope that would transport only green hydrogen, highlighting the divergence in Brussels-bound discussions.
Hydrogen production requires electricity. Electrolysis splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. Green hydrogen uses electricity from renewables such as wind and solar. Pink hydrogen refers to electrolysis powered by nuclear energy. France seeks to include the latter in the project’s scope.
Final decisions will rest with the European Union, which must determine the hydrogen type that can traverse the H2Med corridor. If the plan receives EU funding, the three countries intend to advance it as a project of common interest in Brussels before the next major deadline to secure support from Brussels and potential subsidies.
The EU has, at the start of the year, included nuclear energy and gas in the green financing category, a stance Spain challenged. The shift came amid a push to accelerate the energy transition after pressure from member states and in the wake of gas supply disruptions tied to geopolitical tensions.
Portugal and Spain eliminate gas
France’s energy strategy has affected Madrid and Berlin, with Paris cancelling the Midcat project, which aimed to move natural gas across the Pyrenees and later adapt to hydrogen. Macron framed the decision within Europe’s climate goals, arguing that investment should focus on sustainable options rather than hydrocarbons. Spain and Germany had viewed Midcat as a multiuse project, starting with gas to bolster energy security amid conflict in Ukraine and later enabling hydrogen transport when feasible, a transition that could take years.
Tensions flared as the summer progressed. Reports from the French Ministry of Ecological Transition suggested Madrid and Berlin’s Midcat proposal required review, while Macron publicly tempered expectations about new gas flows, emphasizing that existing pipelines were not operating at full capacity.
In October, Sánchez, Macron and Costa agreed to abandon Midcat and to pursue new plans: an underwater channel between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar) and a separate submarine link between Celorico and Zamora to connect Portugal and Spain, the CelZa line. The CelZa route initially carried dual-use hopes, but that idea was ultimately dropped.
EU approval
Von der Leyen spoke optimistically in Alicante about the Iberian Peninsula becoming a central energy hub. She described H2Med as moving in the right direction and noted its potential to help build a genuine European hydrogen backbone. Her remarks stressed the urgent need for clean energy in the context of geopolitical energy disruptions. The Commission signaled openness to new regional alliances, including partnerships with southern Mediterranean countries, and reaffirmed a broader Green Hydrogen Union. Negotiations with Egypt and Morocco continue as part of that effort. The Commission aims to produce and import ten million tons of renewable hydrogen annually in Europe by 2030, supplying industry across the Union and reinforcing energy resilience [citation: European Commission briefing, Alicante, 2024].
As part of its plan, the EU continues to explore partnerships that expand low-carbon hydrogen production and secure imports, aligning with broader climate and energy-security objectives for member states.