The BarMar or H2Med, the water pipeline project between the peninsula and the rest of the European continent, adds a new important partner. Germany, the country set to take on most of Iberia’s green hydrogen exports, agreed this Sunday with France, Spain and Portugal – its original backers – its adherence to the infrastructure and its commitment to expanding the tube onto its territory.
“We have decided to extend H2Med, which thanks to European funds will unite Portugal, Spain and France, to Germany, which will be a partner in the infrastructure of this project,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the press conference after the Franco-German summit in Paris. The Chancellor agreed: “This gas pipeline, which will connect Portugal, Spain, France and also Germany, is a good future project and I am very happy that we have been working in this direction for a long time.” The original metro will be between Barcelona and Lost in Marseille; Now the challenge is to expand it from the second largest French city to the main points of consumption of the largest European economy. Macron has hinted that it “maybe, no doubt” will be able to expand towards partners in Central and Eastern Europe.
“The Green Corridor definitely reinforces its pan-European dimension. A new Iberian solution, and there are already two, in favor of European energy sovereignty,” said Spanish President Pedro Sánchez in a message published on Twitter.
community funding
Berlin’s entry into the energy interconnection project that will link the peninsula to Germany and perhaps other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, as Macron has pushed, increases the already very high odds of H2Med receiving European funding. The war in Ukraine has revived German interest in hydrogen projects, the fuel of the future, as Scholz often calls it. Although the country adopted its national hydrogen strategy back in 2020, the sudden need for alternative energy sources to Russian hydrocarbons has prompted Berlin to focus even more on this element to drive its energy transition.
Germany has effectively phased out nuclear power — although it currently has its last two reactors running until April — and has plans to phase out coal by 2038. That’s why you need to find new posts for your industry and traffic. It has already taken decisive steps in this last area, inaugurating several hydrogen trains covering a suburban route in Lower Saxony, replacing the old diesel-powered trains.
Germany joins H2Med along with France, Portugal and Spain.
After the Barcelona Treaty, the Green Corridor definitely strengthens its pan-European dimension.
A new Iberian solution, and there are already two, in favor of European energy sovereignty.💪
— Pedro Sanchez (@sanchezcastejon) January 22, 2023
“In this way, a definitive achievement is achieved for the necessarily European vocation with which Spain has dimensioned this hydroduct since it began promoting it from the beginning of the project,” for its part, the Spanish government has assessed in a statement published late this Sunday afternoon. In his opinion, the incorporation of Berlin underlines “two commitments that Spain has always expressed with the implementation of this green energy corridor”: strengthening the security and energy autonomy of the EU and Europe’s pursuit of climate neutrality. Spain’s goal, reaffirmed by the executive in recent months, is to become a hub for exporting green energy — hydrogen and electricity — to its central and northern partners.
negotiated for weeks
The pact sealed this Sunday culminates in several weeks of negotiations with various parties. On December 9th the Summit took place in Alicante, where the Spanish, French and Portuguese governments informed the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, of their intention to present it as a Project of Common Interest (PCI) permit that by the half of its costs to be met from funds of the Twenty-Seven. Less than a week later, operators of the German gas sector joined the joint writing of the Spanish Enagás and their French and Portuguese counterparts, expressly declaring their firm “support” for it and their desire to make BarMar the “backbone” of the renewable hydrogen supply from southern to northern Europe. The BarMar, or H2Med, is the result of an agreement that replaced the MidCat land gas pipeline project through the Pyrenees with a green hydrogen submarine pipeline in October.
Although it could also transport natural gas in an emergency, the Pyrenees tube will be designed entirely to transport hydrogen. The governments involved expect it to be operational by 2030 and capable of transporting two million tons of green hydrogen annually. In this way, Spain could initially meet up to 10% of Europe’s needs for this gas, which is essential for the decarbonization of sectors where electrification is little less than a chimera.
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