Original plan agreed upon Madrid, Paris and Lisbon It was going to unite the three countries with a corridor with two sections which is expected to be operational between 2028 and 2030. - WorldNationNews

One section would unite Spain with Portugal (between Celorico da Beira and Zamora) and the other with France (between Barcelona and Marseille, with an underwater tube). After adding Berlin as well, the tube network will extend across French soil until it reaches Germany and is intended to be deployed in other countries in northern and central Europe.

Already during the presentation of the project last month in Alicante by the leaders of the three countries – Pedro Sánchez, Emmanuel Macron and Antonio Costa – a friction between Moncloa and Elysium about what kind (or types) of hydrogen was going to be Was. Moved to the future hydroduct. And it is that Macron took the opportunity to let slip that the infrastructure would not only be used to carry green hydrogen (produced alongside electricity from renewable energy) but also said to pink hydrogen (generated with energy from nuclear reactors).

The Spanish government was shocked by the French President’s remarks. Moncloa has been quick to clarify his claim that the Portugal-Spain-France corridor should be used exclusively to transport green hydrogen, produced from electricity generated by renewable energy. And, in fact, Spain had guaranteed that the H2Med would only serve to transport renewable hydrogen until it reached Marseille. Marseille only. But once the tubes start heading to northern Europe, France will be able to inject its own hydrogen produced from electricity generated by its vast park of nuclear power plants.

Naturally, H2Med will circulate hydrogen, which in the case of France, can come from nuclear power. Each country will do this based on its energy mix.

the official source of the French embassy in Madrid

In fact, French diplomatic sources say it was confirmed at the Spanish-French summit in Barcelona on 19 January.

And it is that after the summit chaired by Sánchez and Macron, the joint declaration of the two governments emphasized that “Spain and France recognize the importance of the production, transport and consumption of clean hydrogen such as that produced from hydrogen”. renewable and low carbon energy sources, It is not only green hydrogen, but also that which is produced by French nuclear power.

Only green until you reach france

The three countries submitted H2Med’s candidature to the European Commission last month to be considered a Project of Common Interest (PCI, for its acronym in English) and to receive up to half of the 2,850 million euros needed to build the two sections. Presented for Hydroducts to connect Portugal, Spain and France.

The technical project sent to Brussels envisages that H2Med will be used only for the transport of green hydrogen and will be used only for exporting renewable gas from the Iberian Peninsula to France, without the expectation of a reverse direction in the flow , as confirmed by multiple official sources familiar with the proposal’s contents.

H2Med has been presented to the commission as a green hydrogen project.

he says

The document submitted to the European Commission in order to receive European funding clearly establishes that In any case it is not planned to use the hydroduct for Spain to import hydrogen from France. -which could be produced with electricity from French nuclear power plants- and the facilities designed do not include a compressor in Marseille that would make it possible to reverse the flow, explain government sources. but once As the hydroduct network extends beyond Marseille, the hydrogen that will be transported is not exclusively renewable.

The production of hydrogen as an energy source requires electricity. This is accompanied by electrolysis of water, which separates hydrogen (H2) from oxygen (O). It is considered “green hydrogen” in which the required electricity has been obtained from renewable energy sources such as wind or solar. “Pink hydrogen” is that in which electrolysis is carried out with energy from nuclear power plants and France is a nuclear power powerhouse, the hydrogen it produces will use this type of energy.