It will be the first major hydrogen corridor for the European Union, and carry 10% of hydrogen consumption, equating to around 2m tonnes per year. The cost will be around €2.5bn.

She said, “I warmly welcome this agreement between France, Spain and Portugal. I welcome the imminent application to make it a project of common interest, which would make it eligible for EU financial support. The Iberian peninsula is set to become one of the main energy hubs.”

“Hydrogen is a game changer for Europe, we want to make hydrogen a central part of our energy system in the transition to climate neutrality and Net Zero, and we want to maintain our European trailblazer position as we build a global market for hydrogen. We are establishing hydrogen partnership with Mediterranean countries, we have one with Egypt and now discussing one with Morocco, and working on a broader green hydrogen partnership with all southern Mediterranean countries.”

France President Emmanuel Macron said the project aims to be ready by 2030. “The H2Med project meets three criteria – replacing fossil fuels, being competitive in terms of production and transit of energy, and the need for strategic autonomy, to produce as much as we can in our territory and at the same time, diversifying too.

Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa said, “We will now have a new corridor for green hydrogen and this completely changes the trend – we’re no longer going to be merely importing and re-exporting energy, we will be using our position as energy producers and exporting to the rest of Europe. It’s in the interest of the whole EU to have this project. The more diversification we have, the less dependency.”

Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it was important to give greater visibility to the two connections, between Portugal and Spain, and Spain and France (Barcelona-Marseille).

“Our technical teams and ministers have been working non-stop for the last month, as a result of which we can present the main elements. As a result of this corridor, we are boosting our energy security and reinforcing our commitment to climate neutrality, and hydrogen is essential. We want to spearhead the energy transition with Portugal and France,” he said.

Europe wants to produce 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030, and import an additional 10 million.