Alicante, Spain, Dec 9 (AFP/APP): An ambitious underwater pipeline to bring green hydrogen from the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe will be completed by 2030 and will cost some 2.5 billion euros, the leaders of France, Spain and Portugal said Friday.
The H2Med project comes as Europe is scrambling to reduce its dependence on Russian energy following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
It is also seen as helping Europe transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.
The pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille — also known as BarMar — will carry two million tonnes of hydrogen per year, or 10 percent of European consumption, once it goes online, said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
“It is going to be the first major hydrogen corridor in the European Union,” Sanchez said.
The project will cost around 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion), he said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
The three leaders formally signed off on the plans in the presence of EU Commission chief Ursula Von der Leyen on the sidelines of a regional EU summit.
Following the talks, they released a roadmap and timeline for completing H2Med which they hope will be partially covered by European funds.
The pipeline under the Mediterranean Sea will carry green hydrogen, which is made from water via electrolysis in a process using renewable energy.
The roadmap detailed three options for the route of the pipeline, with the preferred one stretching 455 kilometres (282 miles) at a maximum depth of 2,600 metres.
Construction would begin in 2025 and last four years and eight months, it said.
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