Spain, Portugal and France want to complete hydrogen pipeline by 2030

Madrid (dpa) - Spain, Portugal and France want to complete an underwater green hydrogen pipeline from Barcelona to Marseille by 2030, the countries' leaders announced on Friday.

The heads of government of Spain and Portugal, Pedro Sánchez and António Costa, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, set the goal during a meeting in Alicante in southern Spain, Sánchez said.

The EU is set to contribute to the estimated costs of the project, about ?2.5 billion ($2.64 billion).

At first, only hydrogen will be transported through the pipeline, about 2 million tons per year, Sánchez said.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who attended the meeting together with EU Council President Charles Michel, welcomed the agreement as an important building block of the European REPowerEU programme, which aims to enable investments in energy efficiency, renewable energies and Energy Union infrastructure.

The EU aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

In 2030, the EU aims to produce an estimated 10 million tons of green hydrogen from sustainable energy sources and import the same amount, said von der Leyen. Transport capacities such as the energy corridor from the Iberian Peninsula are indispensable for this, she added.

Spain, Portugal and France had agreed in principle on the construction of the pipeline from Barcelona to Marseille in October.

Spain and Portugal hope to become major producers of green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy such as wind, solar and hydropower, as part of the energy transition and the fight against climate change.

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