Spain has taken the first administrative step towards deploying its future renewable hydrogen backbone network. The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has begun processing the first segments developed by Enagás, with a planned investment of €389 million and direct connection to three projects totaling 900 MW of electrolysis capacity .
The decision responds precisely to the requests of the promoters of Onuba, Catalina and Petronor , who seek to accelerate the necessary infrastructure in order to anticipate their own investment decisions.
All three projects are supported by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RRTP) and the associated pipelines are considered European Projects of Common Interest (PCI) .
The largest of these is Catalina , in Teruel, with 500 MW of electrolysis capacity and €245 million in funding. The project requested priority be given to two segments: Caspe-Tivissa, 75 kilometers long with an investment of €98.6 million, and Tivissa-Tarragona Industrial Park, 62 kilometers long with an investment of €126.5 million . Both form part of the future Zaragoza-Tivissa section.
In Andalusia, Onuba , located in Huelva, plans to install 300 MW and received €303.75 million from the PRTR. The associated infrastructure will be the 59-kilometer Huelva-Aznalcázar segment, with an estimated investment of €95.7 million .
The third project is Petronor , in Vizcaya, with 100 MW of electrolysis and €160 million in public funding. This project aims to accelerate the construction of the 38-kilometer, €68 million Muskiz-Arrigorriaga pipeline, which is part of the Reocín-Arrigorriaga section.
Together, the four segments comprise 234 kilometers of infrastructure and will be one of the first physical pieces of the network that Spain plans to deploy to connect renewable hydrogen production and demand.
The process will be expedited , which will allow certain administrative deadlines to be halved. However, each project must undergo its corresponding environmental impact assessment, and the public consultation periods for that assessment will not be shortened.
Once the authorizations are obtained, MITECO estimates that the works could require between eight months and a year , depending on each segment.
First pieces of the network that will feed H2Med
The new pipelines also have a European dimension.
The Government considers them infrastructures that facilitate H2Med , the corridor designed to connect the Iberian Peninsula with the center of Europe and to create a cross-border market for renewable hydrogen.
In this first stage, moreover, the segments will not operate under the usual economic scheme of the gas system.
The processing is carried out under the additional provision 38 of Law 34/1998 of the hydrocarbons sector, so they will initially have negotiated access and will not receive regulated remuneration from the gas system .
This framework will subsequently need to be adapted to the regulations resulting from the transposition of the European package on renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen markets.
The deployment will not end in these first corridors.
The MITECO anticipated that Enagás will soon request administrative authorization for the rest of the major sections of the future trunk network, including Mérida-Salamanca, Salamanca-León, León-Llanera, Llanera-Reocín, Arrigorriaga-Haro, Haro-Zaragoza, Tivissa-Salzadella, Salzadella-Paterna, Paterna-Montesa, Montesa-Cartagena and Almendralejo-Puertollano .
The infrastructure is thus beginning to advance in parallel with an industrial portfolio that already has significant public support: the Government has awarded more than €3 billion to 124 renewable hydrogen projects under the PRTR.