This file photo taken on March 29, 2022 shows a general view of the Barcelona’s Enagas regasification plant, the oldest in continental Europe, located at the Muelle de la Energia in the port of Barcelona, during a visit for the international press. – Madrid has long been hoping for the revival of plans to build a pipeline connecting the Iberian Peninsula via France to central Europe, which was abandoned in 2019 over regulatory and funding issues.
Six years later it was dropped by regulators in France and Spain over its environmental impact and lack of economic viability. Ecology Minister Teresa Ribera told Antena 3 television last week the Italian alternative was being studied but admitted it would be best to go for “the easiest option… across the Pyrenees”, saying such a pipeline “could be operational by late 2023 or early 2024”.
Portugal also has a plant, meaning the Iberian peninsula has the capacity to become a hub for gas shipped in from the United States while the transition to renewable energies is being completed.Spain and Portugal want the EU to foot the bill for building such a connection, estimated at some 440 million euros .
When fossil fuels burn, they emit harmful greenhouse gases, but hydrogen only emits harmless water vapour.