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Almost a hundred organisations from all over Europe reject the construction of H2MED, considering it unnecessary and that it will aggravate the energy crisis.
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The list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) contains two projects for the transport of fossil gas, contravening scientific indications, and ignoring the systematic violations of human rights linked to gas exploitation.
The European Commission published on Tuesday 28th November the sixth list of Projects of Common Interest/Projects of Mutual Interest (PCI/PMI) in the framework of the 10th anniversary of the Trans-European Energy Infrastructure Regulation (TEN-E Regulation). The list submitted contains 166 projects, of which 48 are hydrogen transport or storage projects, without restricting their use to renewable hydrogen only. As regards the production of green hydrogen, a total of 17 projects involve the installation of electrolysers. There are also two projects linked to the transport of fossil gas, and 14 projects relating to CO2 transport and carbon capture and storage. In addition to 85 projects for electricity connections (internal and cross-border), energy storage and smart grids, including the controversial submarine cable in the Bay of Biscay, Gatica.
The list, which will be submitted to the Council and the European Parliament for approval, includes 17 projects in the Spanish state, which will be given priority status and will be eligible for European funding of up to 50% of their cost.
At the European level, many projects have been criticised, including H2MED, a controversial infrastructure planned to transport two million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030 from the Iberian peninsula through France to Germany. But also the EastMed pipeline, which aims to transport gas from the eastern Mediterranean (Israel and Cyprus) to the European gas grid via Greece; and the Melita pipeline, which aims to connect Malta to the European gas grid via Italy.
Almost a hundred environmental and civil society organisations from Europe, the Spanish state, Portugal, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Poland, Belgium, Bulgaria and Malta, political representatives from the European Parliament, the Spanish Parliament and the Parliament of Catalonia, as well as some political parties, have joined together to express their concern about H2Med, an infrastructure that aims to be the largest green hydrogen corridor between the Iberian Peninsula and the centre of Europe, as well as other infrastructures for hydrogen transport that are considered unnecessary and oversized.
The Spanish Gas no es Solución network, which has led the publication of this joint letter, indicates that “it is clear that renewable hydrogen has a role to play in the energy transition, but it is also clear that its role should be limited before spending billions of euros of public funds on unnecessary infrastructures”. To this end, they consider that the use of green hydrogen should be prioritised, after reducing its demand. Specifically, by promoting its local consumption, for those industrial sectors that are difficult to decarbonise (for example, the iron and steel sector) and in sectors that are impossible to electrify, such as maritime transport or aviation.