Goodbye to the MidCat, the project that sought to connect Spain with France, through the Pyrenees with gas pipelines that would have allowed gas to be transported from the Iberian Peninsula and, in turn, from the Maghreb, to France and the rest of continental Europe. Spain loses a project that, without a doubt, would have been of great importance to mitigate the consequences of the energy crisis that the European Union is going through due to the conflict in Ukraine. But wins a project that could well contribute to turning Spain into one of the most important energy players in the medium and long term.
The meeting between the President of France, Emmanuel Macron; the president of Portugal, Antonio Costa; and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez; would have been closed with an agreement to replace the old MidCat project with a new project called the “green energy corridor”.
As Sánchez himself has announced, the connection of Barcelona with Marseille has been agreed, by means of a series of pipesof which he has not given more details, which will be prepared to transport green hydrogen, and which would also allow the transport of gas in an interim period.
Spain, France and Portugal have agreed not to carry out the MidCat project, to start a new interconnection between Barcelona and Marseille, which will serve to transport gas, but also green hydrogen
/ud83d/udd34DIRECT | Meeting Spain, Portugal and France
▪️ Pedro Sánchez announces that an agreement has been reached to replace MidCat with a new project called ‘the green energy corridor’: “Create a green hydrogen pipeline between Barcelona-Marseille” https://t.co/gIfd6HKA9cpic.twitter.com/2WZxDdVtSH
— Radio 5 (@radio5_rne) October 20, 2022
The hydrogen interconnection project is born
During the EuroMed summit in Alicante, on December 8 and 9, Macron, Costa and Sánchez will meet again to advance the details of a project that is yet to be definedincluding “the necessary investment, the distribution of costs and the volume of economic resources” (Europe Press).
Also the capacity of the interconnection is unknown. And it is that although Sánchez has announced that it can be used to transport gas, after its inauguration, and hydrogen, when the production, the hydrogen ecosystems, and the use of hydrogen are more developed, the volume of hydrogen and gas that it will be able to transport is unknown and therefore how promising this project can be.
The gas and hydrogen connection between Barcelona and Marseille would mean, in return, the development of new electrical connections between the Iberian Peninsula and France.
Spain as Europe’s energy supplier
Spain is in a privileged position. First, to be a powerhouse of renewable energy in Europe, with a large installed capacity, but also with enormous potential to increase production capacity, especially through wind and solar energy. Second, to become one of the largest energy providers in the European Union. But for this it is necessary to make a firm commitment to renewables, to develop technologies such as the production of green hydrogen and to establish the necessary interconnections for Europe’s energy supply.
In any case, We will have to wait for the details of this connection between Barcelona and Marseille to be outlined, the necessary agreements are established to carry it out, it is built and, above all, it begins to transport gas and hydrogen. It will also be necessary to know more details regarding the capacity of this connection to determine if, indeed, we are facing a project that favors the positioning of Spain as a supplier of hydrogen to Europe or, on the contrary, a project that was paralyzed like that of MidCat, and that would have been of vital importance in these moments of energy crisis, to develop another project that is not relevant in the European energy panorama.
