The Chairman of Enagás, Antonio Llardén, highlighted the important role of renewable hydrogen for the reindustrialisation of Europe and the strategic autonomy of the EU. “This new energy vector has a decarbonisation objective, but also an important objective of energy sovereignty for the European Union and industrial competitiveness,” he said in his speech at the sixth edition of MedCat Days, an event organised by the Government of Catalonia, the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and the European Commission, which was held in Barcelona on 9 July.
Llardén pointed out that renewable hydrogen is a central pillar of REPowerEU, which the EU adopted after the invasion of Ukraine to strengthen decarbonisation, security of supply and price competitiveness. The Enagás Chairman stressed that the European Union reacted and approved "a true European energy policy for the first time, which should not simply be a policy of each country".
As Llardén explained, the EU has defined strategic hydrogen corridors across Europe in REPowerEU, including H2med, which connects the production potential of the Iberian Peninsula with central Europe. The Chairman of Enagás highlighted the progress made in this infrastructure: the latest milestone was the creation of the joint venture for the BarMar interconnection between Enagás and the French operators NaTran and Teréga.
Antonio Llardén emphasised the key role played by the Barcelona LNG plant for Europe: in terms of the decarbonisation of the EU, as the starting point for BarMar and home to the compression station for the hydrogen interconnection with Marseille, and for European security of supply, as the largest regasification plant in the EU, which has become particularly important since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. “It has played a key role in ensuring energy security in Spain and other European countries”, he said.
The Chairman of Enagás took part in the round table discussion The role of Catalonia in investment and innovation in the Mediterranean moderated by the Secretary General of the Catalan Government of the Department of European Union and External Action, Lorena Elvira, with the participation of the Director of strategic planning and management control of Medusa, Javier Salvador; the Director of the Institute for Energy Research of Catalonia (IREC), Joan Ramon Morante; the Director of the Telecommunications Technology Centre of Catalonia, Ana Pérez; the Deputy Coordinator to the Commissioner of the Spanish Government for the Mediterranean Corridor, Martín Navarro, and the Government of Catalonia's Secretary of Economic Affairs and European Funds, Francesc Trillas.
