Portugal, Spain, France submit H2Med project for EU funding

The gas transmission system operators (TSOs) of Portugal, Spain and France have submitted their proposal for the H2Med cross-border hydrogen corridor for funding under the EU call for Projects of Common Interest (PCI), the Spanish ministry for the ecological transition said on Friday.

As mandated by their governments, Spain’s Enagas SA (BME:ENG), Portugal’s REN and GRTgaz and Terega of France developed two hydrogen routes to connect the Iberian Peninsula with Marseille.

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In Iberia, the CelZa sub-project will entail the construction of the hydrogen interconnection between the towns of Celorico da Beira in Portugal and Zamora in Spain. Spain and France are to be connected via the BarMar submarine pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille.

In between, Spain will separately build two hydrogen routes -- one running from the northern coastal city of Gijon towards southern Spain via Zamora, and the second extending along the northern coast and turning towards the Mediterranean to reach Barcelona and Cartagena.

These two routes will form the first axes of Spain’s green hydrogen backbone and are meant to connect the main hydrogen production centres with domestic demand points. Spain submitted the application for the PCI funding alone for this portion of the undertaking, the ministry said.

Additionally, Spain will seek the PCI funding to analyse the feasibility of building two underground hydrogen storage facilities in salt caverns in the regions of Cantabria and the Basque Country in an effort to strengthen the H2Med flow.

According to the Spanish government, the H2Med corridor will be capable of transporting around 2 million tonnes of hydrogen per year, or about 10% of the EU’s expected hydrogen consumption by 2030.

Speaking of investments, the cost of the CelZa 248-kilometre (154.1 miles) pipeline is estimated at EUR 350 million (USD 371.3m). The BarMar section will be 455-kilometres long and require about EUR 2.5 billion, the government in Madrid said.

The whole H2Med project is expected to be operational by 2030.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.061)