2.5 billions for the pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille

Today, France, Spain and Portugal have unveiled their plans for a pipeline to transport green hydrogen from the Iberian Peninsula to France and the rest of Europe.

The pipeline, called H2 Med, has to be completed by 2030 for Emmanuel Macron. The French President went to Alicante, Spain, to meet the Spanish and Portuguese heads of government, Pedro Sánchez and Antonio Costa. In the presence of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, they decided to formalise the roadmap for this project, which was announced on October 20 during a European summit.

This pipeline replaces “Midcat”, launched in 2003 to link the French and Spanish gas networks via the Pyrenees, but eventually abandoned due to its lack of economic interest and strong opposition (from environmentalists and the French government). The new project, linking Barcelona to Marseille undersea, should make it possible to transport so-called green hydrogen from the Iberian peninsula to France and the north of the EU. Spain has ambitions to become a champion of this energy of the future.

The infrastructure will be submitted to the European Commission by December 15 in order to benefit from the status of “project of common interest” (IPCEI) and therefore from European funding.

Pedro Sánchez, head of the Spanish government, said that the cost of building H2Med should be “around €2.5 billion” (about $2.63 billion) and that “by 2030 the pipeline would transport some two million tonnes of hydrogen per year.”

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Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King