H2Sines gets green light from Brussels

The European Commission has given the go-ahead for the H2Sines green hydrogen project to get EU funding despite an legal investigation underway into alleged influence peddling and corruption.

According to Lusa, the EU Commission announced on Tuesday that it had selected the hydrogen project at Sines, south of Lisbon, and added that the project was “not under investigation”.
It said that the project and the maritime pipeline that will ferry the green hydrogen fuel, were “projects of common interest” so that they could receive EU funding.
The project is now on a list of new EU projects of common interest and mutual interest, which includes 166 cross-border energy initiatives that are eligible for EU funds because they are in line with the Green Deal.
One such project, the H2Sines.RDAM electrolyser, which an official source said was not under investigation in Portugal in the current investigation that forced the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa to resign.
“The information I have is that they have similar names, but it is a different project,” the source told Lusa, indicating that he has no further information on Portugal’s Operation Influencer investigations into the hydrogen and lithium sectors.
H2Sines.RDAM is a maritime supply chain for renewable liquid hydrogen between Sines and Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.
Portugal began producing green hydrogen this year and has private investments worth €10Bn limed up for 8 projects.
“Green hydrogen will, over time, allow Portugal to completely change its paradigm and become an energy exporting country.” according to the then Environment Minister Joao Matos Fernandes in 2021.
Seven consortia submitted IPCEI applications as part of a planned export-oriented ‘hydrogen cluster’ near the port of Sines, from where hydrogen could be shipped to Rotterdam.
A consortium including ENGIE, EDP, Galp, Vestas is behind the H2Sines project. In Estarreja in north Portugal, Bondalti Chemicals aims to invest €24Bn euros in a H2 plant.
Altogether, the projects envisage an installed capacity of over 1 Gigawatt (GW).
The green hydrogen pipeline will stretch from Sines to France (BarMar) via Spain and onto Germany.