Brussels welcomes agreement between Portugal, Spain and France for interconnections
“We welcome the political agreement between France and Spain and Portugal on the BarMar project and, in principle, we are available for the project that complete the objectives [pacote energético] REPowerEU”, reacted the spokesperson for the European Commission in the area of Energy.
However, “we can finance anyone, organic compounds are not that interesting for the list of common projects, as they are not projects that are designed to be considered political” press of the community executive in Brussels.
“The Commission is now awaiting the details of this project as there is still only an agreement in principle that was announced between the three Member States and that are now working on the technical details”, he added.
In the last stage, in Brussels, the governments of Portugal, France and Spain reached an agreement to speed up interconnections in the Iberian Peninsula, abandoning the existing project, intended only for gas, for another that foresees a maritime gas pipeline for, in addition to a of transport this fossil fuel, will be used in the future for `green` hydrogen.
The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, has already come to allow that he hopes that this new project can be fully financed by European funds, through the Interconnecting Europe Mechanism.
To this end, this infrastructure should be considered a project of common interest, classification given to country initiatives for EU technological systems, as interconnectors, than to beneficiaries of advanced licensing and financing procedures.
Specifically, the Europa20 Energy Mechanism transfrontei 1 mechanism for example of renewable energy has a total budget of 8 thousand euros of energy in the community period 202.8 thousand euros, for the renewable energy sector (as 2 `green`) .
In the previous framework 2014-2020, 4.7 million euros were changed for electricity infrastructure, smart grids and natural gas projects, with the aim of interconnection with energy networks and reinforced infrastructure in the single energy market in Europe.
Tim McPhie advanced the list of projects of interest in 2023 “an exercise that will advance with regional groups and with a common operation to present candidate projects”, in which Brussels pronounces on funding.
On Monday, António Costa, Pedro S. and Emmanuel Macron.
The two Iberian prime ministers and ministers also reached an agreement with the President of the future Spain on renewable gas connections, namely the connection between Celorico and Zamora (CelZa).
The timetable, sources of funding and costs related to the implementation of the green will be discussed at a new three-way meeting in December in Alicante, Spain.
The countries are expected to start the preparatory work, in liaison with the European Commission.
An idea is designed that these new infrastructure facilities can be used as a renewable energy source and that they are designed for a limited proportion of natural energy as an alternative and transitory source of energy.