The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, asked last Thursday to complete the construction of a gas pipeline connecting the Iberian Peninsula with Central Europe. These words were interpreted as an impulse to a project similar to the MidCat, which crosses Catalonia to the Pyrenees. Spain assured two days later that its part of the project could be built in eight months, would cost some 370 million euros and would allow the transport of renewable gases. But you need the blessing of France, which should continue this gas pipeline towards the center and north of Europe. A week later, the government of Emmanuel Macron keeps his traditional argumentative what is a project about slow and expensive and says that there are still many “uncertainties” about being able to transport hydrogen, according to sources from his ministry for the Ecological Transition. But the Spanish Government replies that it has no record of “any official communication” and hopes that the country will pronounce itself officially and more high levelaccording to sources from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.
In response to questions from the media about whether he is in favor of the construction of a new pipelineafter last week Germany and Spain have opted to launch it, the french ministry for ecological transition sends a statement in which he insists that “a project of this type would take many years in operation (the study and work time of this type of infrastructure is always several years) and, therefore, would not respond to the current crisis“. The alternativefor France, is the installation of floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in those countries with coastline (Germany has already announced the construction of one of these terminals) as it is a formula that requires “less investment” and “faster” construction and allows import gas directly “from the Gulf countries or the United States.”
Furthermore, it appeals to climate issue to question the development of durable gas infrastructure at a time when Europe “is accelerating its transition to carbon neutrality by 2050”. “Prior to embark on the construction of new gas pipelines, also we must integrate climate issues because our goal is to do without fossil fuels by 2050,” he says. At this point, the department that heads Christophe Bechu recognizes that “there discussions to eventually transform the gas pipelines and allow the hydrogen transport” but there are still manyuncertainties” on the production and consumption capacities of hydrogen. “For example, certain equipment, in particular high-flow compressors, is not currently available to build a possible gas pipeline that is fully compatible with the transport of hydrogen,” he adds.
At the end of its statement, the French ministry concedes that “all these elements” must be “object of dialogue” between the Member States stakeholders to “take into account both the issues of European solidarity that are essential, as well as our climate goals”. After learning of the dissemination of this statement, Spanish government sources insist that Spain awaits an official response from France at the highest level and in tune with the European Commission, who is the one who they consider should finance said project. “Circumstances have radically changed since the project Midcat was originally raised until today. The context has nothing to do with what it was then: nor with respect to the energy securitynor with respect to gas price. Therefore, it is It is essential that a high-level political debate takes placeat the highest level”, add these sources.
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The Midcat It was a project of the Spanish gas operators (Enagas) and French (Terega), started in the early 2000s, with a planned investment of 3,000 million euros, aimed at transporting 7.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year in both directions from the installation of a 1,250 kilometers (800 kilometers in France and 450 kilometers in Spain). The first phase of this project consisted of a 227-kilometre tube that linked the France-Spain border, through the Pyrenees, through Girona. But the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) and its French counterpart, the Commission de régulation de l’énergie (CRE) knocked down that first phase in 2019, and a year later the Commission did the same. European Unionconsidering that there was no interest on the part of the marketersas well as for the high costs infrastructure and that the gas interconnection capacity between the two countries it wasn’t congested.
A possible Russian gas cut Europe, which in 2021 imported 40% of its consumption of this raw material from Moscow, has reactivated the debate on the recovery of a project similar to that MidCat (maintains a similar layout and the same capacity) to double the capacity to export gas from Spain (currently 7,000 million cubic meters through the two pipes that cross the Basque Country and Navarra, which are expected to increase by about 1.5 million more this year). “For us, the great political priority is to be able to help our neighbors from central and northern Europe. It would be convenient a deep reflection on the scope of the new circumstances and how we adapt to them to help each other”, they add from the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition. The third vice president herself and minister for the Ecological Transition, Theresa Rivera, remembered this Wednesday the country of Emmanuel Macron that, just as Germany needs gas, your country has been asking for energy (electricity) for months “from all its neighbors”, after the stoppage of half of its nuclear power plants and, therefore, “it is in good condition for understand why build Europe go through one common policy“. “I’m sure it will be a important debate in the coming monthsRibera concluded.