H2Med application submitted as an EU Project of Common Interest

The execution of the project will make Spain the world's first renewable hydrogen hub, by incorporating the first axes of the national backbone network that will connect the green hydrogen production centres with domestic demand and the two international interconnections with France and Portugal.

Promoted by the governments of Spain, Portugal and France, H2Med includes two cross-border infrastructures, one between Celorico da Beira (Portugal) and Zamora, and the other, underwater, between Barcelona and Marseille (France). It is being promoted by the respective transmission companies and managers of the gas systems: Enagás on the Spanish side, REN on the Portuguese side, and GRTgaz and Terega on the French side.

These companies (TSOs) have been working together to design H2Med and yesterday submitted their application to the European Commission's PCI call for proposals. In the case of the connection to Portugal, each TSO has taken charge of presenting the part of the interconnection in its territory; in the case of the connection to France, this has been done jointly by the three TSOs involved.

Connecting hydrogen production and demand

Spain has also submitted to the PCI call the first axes of the green hydrogen backbone network, which will connect the main hydrogen production centres with both domestic demand and, thanks to the two interconnections, demand in the rest of Europe. One axis will run along the Bay of Biscay, the north-east and the Mediterranean coast, and the other along the west and south of the country.

Two proposals have been presented together with the axes to analyse the feasibility of two underground hydrogen storage facilities located in salt caverns in Cantabria and the Basque Country, with the aim of increasing the flexibility of the new system and guaranteeing continuity of supply throughout H2Med.

The two axes are considered as a single PCI candidate, while each warehouse has an independent candidacy in which different promoters could take part. These projects fit into the framework of the CIPs as they are considered to strengthen and facilitate international linkages.

The design basis for these infrastructures is the so-called Spanish Hydrogen Backbone, which Enagás has been designing for several years. Expansion and development are planned in line with growth in the production and demand for hydrogen from renewable energy.

Non official translation