BarMar, what do we know about the hydrogen pipeline between France, Spain and Portugal
France, Spain and Portugal have reached an agreement on a new pipeline, the BarMar, which cancels the dispute over the MidCat. All the details and the energy consequences for Europe
France, Spain and Portugal reached an agreement on Thursday for the construction of an underwater pipeline for the transport of hydrogen and natural gas between Barcelona and Marseille.
The pipeline – nicknamed BarMar – replaces and deletes the plans for the MidCat, the disputed gas pipeline between Spain and France.
THE CONTRASTS ON THE MIDCAT
Promoted by Spain and Portugal with the support of Germany, which consumes a lot of gas and has urgent supply needs, the MidCat was however opposed by the French government . Paris saw it as an expensive infrastructure, possibly requiring years of construction and without strategic value, given EU commitments to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
RENEWABLE HYDROGEN AND GAS
The BarMar, on the other hand, seems to be more aligned with the energy transition plans. The pipeline will in fact be used to transport green hydrogen (a fuel that does not emit greenhouse gases, produced by renewable electricity) and other renewable gases such as biomethane.
Immediately, and only for a short period of time, the BarMar will also carry a "limited amount" of natural gas to alleviate the European supply crisis.
THE “BLOCKED” GAS IN SPAIN
Together, Spain and Portugal have a regasification capacity of 36.2 billion cubic meters per year, which allows them to receive large quantities of liquefied gas (LNG). However, they are unable to re-export them to the European market due to the insufficient capacity of the gas pipelines between Spain and France, which amounts to just 7.5 billion cubic meters.
Read also: Snam, what is known about the Spain-Italy gas pipeline. Who will pay?
ELECTRICAL INTERCONNECTION
In addition to the BarMar, Madrid and Paris have also reached an agreement to speed up the completion of an electrical interconnector in the Bay of Biscay and to create other lines of contact between their networks.
TIMES AND COSTS (UNKNOWN) OF THE BARMAR
The timing and costs of the BarMar are not yet known. The leaders of France, Spain and Portugal will meet in Alicante on 9 December to discuss it.
WHAT SPAIN DOES ABOUT HYDROGEN
According to consultancy Wood Mackenzie, Spain accounted for 20 percent of all green hydrogen investment announcements in the world in the first quarter of 2022, second only to the United States.
Energy company Iberdrola is building Europe's largest green hydrogen plant in Puertollano, in central Spain. Among the Spanish companies that are investing in hydrogen from renewables there is also Cepsa, a company traditionally focused on hydrocarbons, which will spend 7-8 billion euros by 2030 to reposition itself in the low-emission energy sector.
THE SPANISH REGASIFIERS
Spain has six LNG regasification terminals and three storage facilities which have almost reached their maximum capacity. Spain alone accounts for 33 percent of the EU's regasification capacity and 44 percent of LNG storage capacity.
Due to the infrastructural isolation from the rest of the continent, natural gas prices in the Iberian Peninsula have dropped to their lowest levels in almost six months: the storage sites are almost full, and it is impossible to re-export the fuel to the Central Europe (where there is demand) due to the lack of gas pipelines.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/gasdotto-barmar-francia-spagna-portogallo/ on Mon, 24 Oct 2022 05:56:49 +0000.