Call for Interest launched for Europe’s first major hydrogen corridor

Five European transmission system operators (TSOs) involved in the H2med project, the first European major hydrogen corridor, have launched a non-binding Call for Interest to identify the needs of future infrastructure users along the corridor.

The Call of Interest was officially opened today (November 7) in Madrid, with representatives from the five TSOs behind the project – Enagás, GRTgaz, OGE, REN, and Teréga.

The call will run from November 7 to December 18, 2024, aiming to assess needs across all the areas covered by the H2med corridor, in particular, the national hydrogen backbones that the project partners aim to build by 2030 in Portugal, Spain, France, and Germany.

Building on previous national and local consultations, the five TSOs are looking to update their understanding of the market’s needs from now until 2050.

Interested stakeholders are invited to submit their input regarding the consumption, production, and/or marketing of renewable hydrogen along the H2med corridor via the dedicated platform.

This initiative is expected to enable the H2med project partmers to optimize the design of the hydrogen infrastructure and better meet the needs of local players and communities.

H2med plans to share the results with stakeholders in the first quarter of 2025.

The €2.5 billion project is a transnational effort to connect the hydrogen networks of the Iberian Peninsula to those of France, Germany, and the whole of North-West Europe, enabling Europe to be supplied with affordable, renewable hydrogen by 2030.

It consists of a hydrogen interconnection between Portugal and Spain (CelZa) and a subsea pipeline connecting Spain and France (BarMar).

Contracts for preliminary engineering and environmental impact studies were awarded in March 2024.

In June 2024, Enagás, GRTgaz, and Teréga, in coordination with OGE, signed a joint development agreement (JDA) for the development of the BarMar hydrogen infrastructure, and a month later, Enagás Infraestructuras de Hidrógeno, a unit of Enagas, received preliminary approval from the government to start developing the Spanish section of H2med.