A new strategic plan from Spain’s TSO Enagas anticipates €4.8 billion in investments to 2030, confirming nearly €2 billion earmarked for three new gas pipelines to Italy, France and Portugal, the firm announced recently.
Enagas’ El Musel LNG facility. Credit: Fluor official website
A new strategic plan from Spain’s TSO Enagas anticipates €4.8 billion in investments to 2030, confirming nearly €2 billion earmarked for three new gas pipelines to Italy, France and Portugal, the firm announced recently.
“These interconnection projects are necessary for an integrated European market,” CEO Arturo Gonzalo said in a conference call, reiterating a plan reported in March this year. The links to France and Portugal will likely start up in 2025, entering a second phase to transport hydrogen in 2030, he added. The pipeline to Italy, meanwhile, would start operations in 2028, with hydrogen flows expected by 2039. The new interconnections were eligible for EU funding, potentially receiving up to 30-40% subsidies, said Gonzalo.
Such new infrastructure was “needed” in light of concerns about Europe’s reliance on Russian gas, with heightened tensions due to the Ukraine war possibly leading to a complete halt in flows.
Some of the investment had also been earmarked to restart the idled LNG facility El Musel, along with spending on green hydrogen infrastructure – including two underground storage units in northern Spain, said Enagas. The TSO envisions 1,138 MW of electrolysis capacity operational by 2027, where excess renewables is turned into hydrogen.
The Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera among other authorities, visited the El Musel Regasification Plant recently with Arturo Gonzalo after the terminal received the Administrative Authorisation from the Ministry.
This authorisation, which has been granted following a favourable report from the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), is a key step for the start-up of the LNG terminal after the Ministry approved the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for this infrastructure in May 2021.
