Spain and France have agreed to discover the opportunity of laying {an electrical} connection alongside a future underwater pipeline carrying inexperienced hydrogen between the nations, Spain’s Vitality Minister Teresa Ribera instructed Reuters on Thursday (19 January).
The Spanish authorities, which has criticised the nation’s power isolation from different components of Europe, argues that bettering connections with France will assist improve Europe’s power safety and facilitate attaining its local weather objectives.
In December, Spain mentioned the so-called BarMar hall between the port cities of Barcelona and Marseille is anticipated to value about €2.5 billion, have a capability of two million tonnes of hydrogen a 12 months and be prepared by the top of the last decade.
Ribera mentioned on Thursday that the pipeline venture was “advancing very nicely” and that the BarMar route was additionally being envisaged for an undersea energy cable.
“We’ve agreed to check the opportunity of utilizing the identical path and the identical public work for among the electrical interconnections now we have pending (with France),” Ribera added after a bilateral summit in Barcelona, the place she met together with her French counterpart.
Each Spain and France have utilized for European Union funding for the BarMar venture.
Ribera mentioned she believes the electrical interconnection is possible however whereas it might nonetheless hyperlink Barcelona and Marseille, its precise path would must be studied.
Plans to double electrical energy interconnection between France and Spain suffered a setback final 12 months when a deliberate undersea energy cable linking the 2 nations by way of the Bay of Biscay bumped into technical difficulties.
The 370km interconnector was designated in 2013 as a Challenge of Widespread Curiosity (PCI) by the EU and was initially anticipated to be accomplished in 2025. However an EU official mentioned in June it was extra prone to be inaugurated in 2026, whereas the venture web site suggests “2026-2027”.
Spain and France have been additionally briefly at odds final 12 months concerning the MidCat fuel pipeline venture throughout the Pyrenees, which Madrid sought to revive as a method of easing Europe’s power disaster.
It was backed by Spain however rejected by France, which argued that two current pipelines have been being under-utilised.
The 2 nations, together with Portugal, then agreed to construct a brand new inexperienced hydrogen hall, dubbed H2MED, in its place answer.
[Editing and additional reporting by Frédéric Simon]
