Europe is on the verge of initiating the first large hydrogen pipeline project H2MED that connects Portugal, Spain, and France, and will cost about EU€2.8 billion, with half of the fund being provided by the EU.
Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain, as well as Emmanuel Macro, President of France, and António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal, met at the Euro-Mediterranean Summit held several weeks ago at Spain, and discussed this particular project.
This pipeline can be said as an exclusive pathway for hydrogen, and serves as a green corridor that connects the Iberian Peninsula and Continental Europe, with operation scheduled in 2030. Sánchez commented that the pipeline will be segmented into two sections, with the first section being an onshore pipeline that goes from Celorico da Beira of Portugal to Zamora of Spain, and the second section passing through the Mediterranean Sea and going from Barcelona to Marseille.
According to the preliminary plan, the section between Celorico de Beira and Zamora is about 248km long, and is estimated at a cost of EU€350 million, while the section connecting Barcelona and Marseille is roughly 455km long, and has a higher cost at EU€2.5 billion due to partial segments situating at 2,557m below the sea.
The project will also become the first major hydrogen corridor of EU. Despite initially being a submarine natural gas pipeline named as BarMar, the project has now been transformed into an exclusive green hydrogen path in order to be eligible for EU’s RepowerEU project.
The European Commission proposed the RepowerEU project in May this year, which aims to gradually replace daily and industrial fossil fuels and extricate from the dependency of Russia’s energy provision through four major measures, including energy conservation, energy diversification, renewable energy implementation, and investment enlargement. H2MED is expected to receive subsidization from IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) before December 15th 2023. Sánchez commented that this corridor is able to transport 10% of EU’s hydrogen consumption by 2030, equaling roughly 2 million tons each year.
(Cover photo source: Unsplash)
