The new list of cross-border energy projects of common and mutual interest (PCI/PMI) was welcomed by members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on Thursday 15 January, during a debate attended by the European Commission.
On 1 December, the Commission presented its second list of 235 new PCI/PMI projects, including 113 dedicated to electricity and 100 to hydrogen and electrolysers (see EUROPE 13763/9).
Projects included in this list are eligible for European funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). As a delegated act to the TEN Regulation, the list will enter into force within two months of adoption by the Commission, if Parliament and the Council of the EU raise no objections.
This proposal, as well as the new ‘networks’ package, the presentation of ‘Energy Highways’ (see EUROPE 13773/11) and the proposal to strengthen the budget of the CEF in the context of the new Multiannual Financial Framework (2028-2034) (see EUROPE 13773/13) have been favourably received. These initiatives are part of a wider context of a lack of cross-border interconnections and ageing European network infrastructures.
Hydrogen infrastructure projects. However, some MEPs, such as Sean Kelly (EPP, Irish), have questioned the large number of projects devoted to hydrogen networks at a time when the European market is struggling to get off the ground.
Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, French) called for caution, insisting on the need to transport only carbon-free hydrogen and not to create new gateways for fossil hydrogen or gas.
On this point, Mechthild Wörsdörfer, Deputy Director General at the European Commission, explained that “sustainability” was the overriding criterion for selecting hydrogen infrastructure projects. This means that these projects must promote green or low-carbon hydrogen, in accordance with the EU’s delegated acts (see EUROPE 13738/14).
“The hydrogen market is not developing as we would have liked a few years ago”, she admitted. “So we need supply and demand, but also networks, and these are not yet in place”.
Mrs Wörsdörfer also stressed the need to import hydrogen from abroad. Two of the “Energy Highways” - the Hydrogen Corridor South-West (from Portugal to Germany) and the Corridor SudH2 (linking Tunisia, Italy, Austria and Germany) - focus on transporting hydrogen from North Africa, but “we can get hydrogen from closer, for example from Ukraine”, she explained.
Finally, the Deputy Director General pointed out that following the adoption of the delegated acts on green and low-carbon hydrogen, the Commission had undertaken to present a new hydrogen strategy, without specifying a date. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)