Meeting in Brussels for a European Summit, the French, Spanish and Portuguese leaders agreed to abandon the MidCat gas pipeline project to link Spain and France across the Pyrenees, on Thursday 20 October, following a trilateral meeting in the Belgian capital.
As an alternative, Emmanuel Macron, Pedro Sánchez and António Costa agreed to “create, as a matter of priority, a Green Energy Corridor connecting Portugal, Spain and France with the EU’s energy network”, according to a joint statement.
This project will take several forms. In particular, the three leaders plan to develop a maritime gas pipeline from Barcelona to Marseille (BarMar), but also to finalise the renewable gas interconnections between Portugal and Spain, namely the connection between the cities of Celourico da Beira and Zamora (CelZa).
“These hydrogen infrastructures must be technically adapted to transport other renewable gases, as well as a limited proportion of natural gas as a temporary and transitional source of energy”, the statement said. Asked about the exact proportion of fossil gas that will transit through the BarMar pipeline, a European diplomat said that the proportion of 15% (compared to 85% hydrogen) had been mentioned during the discussions. However, the diplomat added that this breakdown still had to be determined by experts.
The three leaders also agreed to implement new electricity interconnection projects linking France and Spain. In particular, they want to accelerate efforts to finalise the new electricity connection across the Bay of Biscay.
Mr Macron, Mr Sánchez and Mr Costa will meet again on 8 or 9 December in Alicante to discuss the timetable, volumes, cost allocation and sources of funding. On this last point, the French President indicated that the project “is intended to benefit from European funding”.
See the press release: https://aeur.eu/f/3py (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)