The green hydrogen corridor between Spain and France will cost about 2.5 billion

The green hydrogen corridor between Spain and France will cost approximately 2,500 million euros, according to the first "preliminary" estimates made public this Friday by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, after a meeting in Alicante prior to the Euro-Mediterranean summit with the leaders of France and Portugal and the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.

Sanchez said that "the first major EU hydrogen corridor" will be fully operational by 2030 and will be able to transport 10% of the EU's hydrogen consumption by that year, some 2 million tons. The declaration as a project of common interest (PCI) by the EU will allow subsidizing up to 50% of the project with European funds. The pipeline will have "two fundamental routes": from Celorico da Beira (Portugal) to Zamora, and the most important, a sub-amrine pipeline from Barcelona to Marseilles (France).

Sánchez stressed that this is a "vital infrastructure for Europe" that "will provide greater security and greater strategic autonomy" and is "excellent news" for the three countries.

The president of the European Commission stressed that "the H2 Med project is going in the right direction" and will allow "building a European backbone to transport hydrogen" to the EU. And she welcomed "very positively" the request for it to be declared a project of common interest.

"The Iberian Peninsula is going to become one of the main energy hubs of the EU" and a "fundamental energy gateway for the whole world," stressed Von der Leyen. "This corridor can be linked with the entire Mediterranean region," following the agreement already reached with Egypt and the one being negotiated with Morocco. "It is only the beginning," said the German.

The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, has defended that this is "one more step" after the political agreement between the three countries announced in October, "adding one more source of energy that is produced in the Iberian Peninsula and is for the whole of Europe" with this corridor "dedicated exclusively to green hydrogen".

"With this, the trend will be changed" and "we will no longer be mere importers and re-exporters of energy", and it will "strengthen" the Peninsula "as producers and exporters of energy to the rest of Europe" and "without depending on third parties", said the Portuguese leader.

For his part, the French President, Emmanuelle Macron, stressed that the project is "totally coherent" with the European objective of reducing fossil emissions and electrifying Europe, industrializing the continent and achieving strategic sovereignty by producing "as far as possible" all its energy by diversifying sources. And he was convinced that "other countries" will want to access the hydrogen transported by the future pipeline.

Spain, Portugal and France will present the project to the EU before next Thursday in order to enter the call for projects of common interest that is in force. In order to be eligible for these funds, and with the intention that the EU will finance up to 50%, the hydroproduct will finally serve to transport only hydrogen and not gas, as initially announced, since Brussels demands this requirement to finance new interconnection projects. The Government has already assumed that the project will not be operational until 2030, so it will not serve to address the current energy crisis.