Portugal’s hydrogen project gets EU green light

Portugal’s hydrogen project in Sines was selected as one of the cross-border energy initiatives eligible to apply for EU financial support because they are in line with the Green Deal, according to a list published by the EU Commission on Tuesday.

The project is known as the H2Sines.RDAM electrolyser, and an official source from the European Commission assured Lusa that it is not the one being investigated in Portugal.

“The information I have is that they have similar names, but it’s a different project,” said the same source from the Energy Ministry, indicating that he had no further information on the investigations in Portugal into the hydrogen and lithium sectors.

“We have not been informed about this. The information we have is what we see in the news, but the investigations are in the hands of the Portuguese authorities,” the source told Lusa.

H2Sines.RDAM is a maritime supply chain for renewable liquid hydrogen between Sines and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Still, on the subject of hydrogen interconnections in Western Europe, Brussels chose the “Portugal – Spain – France – Germany corridor” as a project of common interest, which includes internal hydrogen infrastructures in Portugal, interconnections between Portugal and Spain, an internal infrastructure in Spain, the “Spain – France hydrogen interconnection, currently known as BarMar” and also infrastructures in France with a connection to Germany.

In October 2022, the governments of Portugal, France and Spain reached an agreement to speed up the interconnections on the Iberian Peninsula, abandoning the existing gas-only project for another that envisages a maritime pipeline that, in addition to initially transporting this fossil fuel, will in future be used to transport ‘green’ hydrogen.

The heads of government and state of these three countries – António Costa, Pedro Sánchez and Emmanuel Macron – decided to go ahead with a “Green Energy Corridor” by sea between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar) instead of a route through the Pyrenees (MidCat).

At the time, Costa acknowledged that he hoped European funds could finance this new project through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Still, it would have to be considered a project of common interest.

This classification, now awarded, concerns infrastructure initiatives for the EU’s energy systems, such as interconnectors, which allow countries to benefit from accelerated licensing and financing procedures.

Projects of common interest are selected because they are considered essential infrastructure for realising the European internal energy market and helping the EU achieve its energy and climate goals.

They can then apply for European funding, with the first call for proposals under the CEF being in the first half of next year and the results expected by the end of 2024.

Another Portuguese project on this list concerns electricity interconnections, such as a Portugal-Spain interconnector between Beariz (Ourense), Ponte de Lima, and Vila Nova de Famalicão.

“Today, the Commission is taking another step to prepare the EU’s energy system for the future by adopting the first list of Projects of Common Interest and Projects of Mutual Interest fully in line with the European Green Deal,” the EU executive announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The projects will benefit from simplified licensing and regulatory procedures and become eligible for EU financial support under the CEF.

(Ana Matos Neves | Lusa.pt)

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