Germany joins the Iberian gas pipeline agreed between Portugal, Spain and France

Germany will join the new hydrogen transport connections project known as H2MED, agreed between Portugal, Spain and France last October, announced by the governments of the countries involved on Sunday.

“We have decided to expand H2MED, which, thanks to European funds, brings together [quando estiver concretizado] Portugal, Spain and France, Germany, which will be a partner in the infrastructure of this project,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the end of the Franco-German summit, which was held in Paris.

Macron added that there is a “desire” to promote green hydrogen at the European level.

In addition, the Spanish government, in a statement, announced this Sunday an agreement for “Germany to join H2MED”.

This “strengthening of the pan-European dimension of H2MED”, which “for the first time in history” can make the Iberian Peninsula “the leading center of green energy for all of Europe”, defends the Spanish government in the same way.

“The agreement comes after negotiations between the governments of the four countries, facilitated by their deeply European vision,” the Madrid government says.

In October, Portugal and Spain reached an agreement with France to build new connections to transport green hydrogen, one between Celorico da Beira and Zamora (CelZa) and the other between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar) in a project called H2MED.

Last August, German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz advocated building a pan-European “pipeline” from Portugal to Germany to reduce the continent’s dependence on Russian gas and diversify energy sources.

The new energy transport links between Portugal, Spain and France, known as the “Green Energy Corridor”, exclude gas and will only be used for hydrogen and should be operational in 2030.

The three governments presented the project to European funds in December.

European funding for H2MED could reach 50% of the project’s estimated cost, estimated by Portugal, Spain and France at €350m for CelZa and €2,500m for BarMar, according to a document released in early December in Alicante. , Spain, following a meeting between the Prime Ministers of Portugal and Spain, António Costa and Pedro Sánchez, and Macron, which was also attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

H2MED will be able to transport 2 million tons of green hydrogen per year between Barcelona and Marseille and 750 thousand tons between Celorico da Beira and Zamora.

These volumes correspond to 10% of the estimated consumption of green hydrogen (H2) in the European Union in 2030, making this project the first major European corridor for this energy.

The European Union has set this year as a goal for 2030 the reduction of gas use, the consumption of 20 million tons of green hydrogen per year, 10 million of which must be produced in the European space and 10 million imported.

Green hydrogen is produced from renewable energy sources such as the sun or wind.

In December in Alicante, the President of the European Commission welcomed the agreement between Portugal, France and Spain, which she said was in line with Brussels’ strategy.

The project “will require on the part of Portugal (…) the reconstruction of the gas network to deliver hydrogen from the production areas in Celorico da Beira and in turn to Spain,” he said at the time in Alicante. This was stated by the Minister of the environment of Portugal, Duarte Cordeiro.

At stake are gas links between Figueira da Foz and Celorico da Beira, as well as a connection from Monforte to Celorico da Beira, the former of which currently has “more advanced production potential” and could attract “new hydrogen projects verde” in addition to these. already identified there, according to Duarte Cordeiro, who estimated the cost of adapting the connection between Figueira da Foz and Celorico da Beira at 120 million euros.