The three heads of government have surprisingly settled a months-long dispute.
(Photo: IMAGO/Agencia EFE)
Madrid Completely surprisingly, the heads of government of Spain, Portugal and France have agreed on a “green energy corridor”. This will better connect the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe. A new pipeline will run under the sea from Barcelona to Marseille and transport green hydrogen.
However, during and after the energy crisis, the Barmar pipeline will also transport gas. Green hydrogen is considered the energy carrier of the future. In order to transport it, either new networks are required or the existing gas pipelines have to be converted. However, it is not yet technically clear how much effort and costs this causes.
The agreement marks a turning point in a months-long dispute over the so-called Midcat pipeline, which Spain wanted to build from Catalonia to France via the Pyrenees. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz had also campaigned in order to benefit from Spain’s large regasification capacities and to be able to import gas from Spain via France.
Details are to be clarified in December in Alicante
However, French President Emmanuel Macron refused, citing, among other things, expected protests by climate protection groups against the pipeline. This problem does not exist with a pipeline under the sea. Spain and Portugal, but also Germany, which is urgently looking for a replacement for the missing gas supplies from Russia, had put pressure on Macron in the past few weeks.
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According to a joint communiqué by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa and French President Macron, the new undersea line is “the most direct and efficient option for connecting the Iberian Peninsula to Central Europe”.
The two were also in dispute over the Midcat pipeline project, which Scholz advocated.
(Photo: Reuters)
They met a few hours before the start of the EU summit in Brussels, where EU members will debate mechanisms to lower energy prices. The three heads of government want to clarify the details of the project at a further meeting in Alicante in early December. Until then, experts should work out the technical details.
“This is very good news for Spain, Portugal, France and essentially Europe,” Sánchez said. “It’s a commitment to solidarity with the rest of Europe.” Macron also praised the agreement, saying it serves Spain and Portugal’s goal of becoming less isolated in the energy market, while doing justice to France’s energy transition policies.
Spain has the largest regasification capacities in Europe
In the course of the Ukraine war, Russia has largely stopped its gas supplies to Europe. Since then, numerous governments, especially the German one, have been looking for alternative suppliers. Spain has become the focus of interest.
The country has the largest capacities in Europe to regasify liquefied natural gas (LNG). This is necessary in order to be able to accept liquid gas deliveries by ship from other parts of the world. Spain has six regasification plants and thus a third of the European landing volume and 44 percent of the LNG storage capacity.
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In the plants, LNG is converted back into the gaseous state and then fed into the gas grid and transported further via pipelines. So far, Europe has not been able to benefit from Spanish capacities because there are only two small pipelines connecting Spain to France. Spain and Portugal, which also have a regasification plant, have been demanding for years that the Iberian Peninsula be better connected to the rest of Europe, both in terms of electricity and gas.
Spain also has ambitious plans for green hydrogen production. Premier Sánchez wants to make his country the European hub for this clean form of energy. A hydrogen pipeline is just what he needs. The Midcat project, which had been started before and then shut down, is now finally dead.
More: Berlin, Madrid and Paris are fighting over the Pyrenees pipeline – Europe’s solidarity in the energy crisis has limits