start Alicante Eurosummit. head of government, Pedro Sanchez; French President Emmanuel Macron and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costaalready assembled for Outline the details of the agreement to build the green hydrogen corridor that will connect the Iberian Peninsula to France and the rest of Europe, via an underwater transmission between Barcelona and Marseille. A project of European dimension, which could be the key to the energy transition on the continent and whose importance is revealed by the presence of the President of the European Commission at the event, Ursula von der Leyen.
The meeting takes place at: European Intellectual Property Office headquarters (EUIPO, for its English abbreviation) in Alicantein an introductory event MED-9 summitbrings together the leaders of the EU’s main countries on the Mediterranean coast this afternoon at its Ciudad de la Luz facilities. Yes, a summit that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who excused his participation due to the flu, will not attend.
The presence of European leaders necessitated extreme security measures throughout the city and attracted hundreds of journalists from all over the continent.
Principle Agreement for the creation of H2MEDaspect water channel between Barcelona and MarseilleA compromise solution was reached on October 20, following a disagreement between Moncloa and Elysee over Sánchez’s proposal to resurrect the German-backed MidCat.
It concerned a gas pipeline connecting Spain and France via the Pyrenees, which was already rejected at the time, but that Sánchez’s team proposed to improve as a solution to the supply problems caused by the war in Ukraine in Central Europe.
Strong opposition from the French president put an end to these plans, but allowed the birth of a new project that could become even more important in the medium term because of the role green hydrogen must play when necessary. decarbonization Subject to the European economy, Spain had to make concessions to achieve this. gave up on the proposal that the new pipeline could also carry natural gas in the first years. A claim that has finally been completely rejected in order to be able to choose European funding, which requires projects to stick to renewable energies if they want to receive community funding.
Once the details of the deal that the governments and relevant operators of the three countries have been working on over the past weeks have become final, The aim is now to submit to the European Commission’s call by 15 December.. According to government sources, if the outage passes, the new infrastructure could receive a subsidy from Brussels of 30-50% of its cost. Practically guaranteed funding, especially with Von der Leyen present at the meeting, which means open support for the enterprise.
The construction of H2MED, which includes the connection between the Spanish and Portuguese grids from Celourico da Beira and Zamora, will bring our country closer to its goal of being one of the main criteria for this new energy source. using electricity from renewable sources—mainly solar energy—to break down water molecules. Thus, the energy to be produced by the large photovoltaic power plants planned to be established in the country will be one of the main supply sources of the entire continent. In addition, the new infrastructure will also serve to channel green hydrogen, which will most likely be produced in North African countries.
With all this new water canal It will be a key piece to guaranteeing Europe’s energy autonomy in the future, as it is estimated to be able to meet around 10% of the total renewable hydrogen target set by the European Commission within the RePower EU plan, with the horizon line. the year 2030