Spain begins rapid planning of pipelines for three green hydrogen projects | Pipelines

Spain has launched an “urgent procedure” to plan three major segments of its hydrogen pipeline backbone.

The country’s Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) launched a public hearing phase on the infrastructure projects in Andalusia, Aragon, and the Basque Country, which it values at €389m ($439m) of investment.

MITECO said while environmental procedures will not be shortened, other processes are being “expedited,” halving their timeframe.

It comes as investors from Moeve’s 300MW Onuba project, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP) 500MW Catalina project, and Petronor’s 100MW Muskiz refinery plant called for fast-tracking of permitting processes.

The planned pipelines are recognised as Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) and would connect the large-scale green hydrogen projects to the wider network and ultimately to central Europe via the H2Med subsea corridor.

Moeve’s Onuba, the subject of €304m ($351m) in government funding, recently broke ground targeting a capacity of 45,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year. It will require a 59km connecting pipeline.

CIP’s Catalina had been plagued by holdups, including being forced to hand back its €230m ($260m) European Hydrogen Bank (EHB) subsidy. However, it has received €245m ($276m) from Spain’s Regional Electricity Transmission Network and has requested priority for two pipelines of 75km and 62km, respectively.

Petronor’s grey hydrogen replacement refinery project near Bilbao secured €160m ($190m) in NextGenerationEU funds. The company wishes to accelerate its 38km pipeline link.

Spain’s abundant solar and wind resources are increasingly positioning it as a promising large-scale producer of green hydrogen for both domestic use and export into the EU.