Gas TSOs ink agreements on H2med hydrogen infrastructure

Gas TSOs from Spain, France, Portugal and Germany have signed agreements on the BarMar Spain-France hydrogen pipeline and the CelZa Portugal-Spain interconnections.

Enagás from Spain and GRTgaz and Teréga from France, along with OGE from Germany as an associate party have signed a joint development agreement on the BarMar project, which is aimed to connect Spain and France through a maritime hydrogen pipeline running from Barcelona to Marseille.

At the same time Enagás also signed a side letter on a current MoU with Portugal’s REN on the CelZa interconnection between Celorico da Beira in northeastern Portugal and Zamora in northwest Spain.

The joint agreement on the BarMar project defines the conditions under which the parties agree to collaborate in the development phase, including undertaking the necessary feasibility studies, and sets out the preliminary minimal conditions for the final investment decision as well as the main principles for the establishment of the special project vehicle.

Have you read?
Gas integration by TSOs and DSOs under way in Europe
Site visit: Injecting hydrogen into Portugal’s gas network

Under the terms of the agreement and pending the final investment decision, equal contributions will come from the Spanish and French TSOs, i.e. Enagás will contribute half of the shareholding, GRTgaz one-third and Teréga one-sixth.

Regarding the CelZa interconnection, the letter parallel to the MoU is on the joint development and financing of the corresponding studies.

H2med project

The H2med project, named a European ‘project of common interest’, was launched in October 2022 as a transnational effort to connect the hydrogen networks of the Iberian Peninsula to those of France and in turn to Germany and ultimately to the whole of northwest Europe.

It also aims to bring benefits in terms of supply and demand for hydrogen, connecting the various Iberian and French industrial basins.

H2med, comprised of the BarMar and CelZa interconnections, is due to be completed by 2030.

The CelZa pipeline will be 250km in length and have a transmission capacity of 0.75Mt/year.

The BarMar interconnection will be 455km in length and have a capacity of 2Mt/year.

Initially a project between Portugal, Spain and France, Germany joined H2med shortly after its launch, seeing it is an interesting vector for its own market as well as for supplying other potential markets.

Originally published on powerengineeringint.com