SoutH2 Corridor Berlin, Vienna and Romen Sign a Joint Declaration of Intent
The SoutH2 Corridor is a hydrogen pipeline connecting the H2 Notos hydrogen project in North Africa to Italy, Austria and Germany. H2 Notos aims to produce 200,000 tons of green hydrogen annually during its initial phase, with the potential to scale up production to one million tons per year in South Tunisia.
The signing of the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDOI) is an important step towards sustainable cooperation in the energy sector. Germany, Austria und Italy thus want to promote the creation of a hydrogen import corridor between the three countries.
The document was signed in Brussels today, and State Secretary Sven Giegold signed on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany. The SoutH2 Corridor has already been chosen as a Project of Common Interest (PCI). It is particularly important for the southern Länder in Germany and is one of the five corridors that we are currently focussing on.
Details of the Joint Declaration
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck said: “The SoutH2 Corridor will play in important role, especially when it comes to providing green hydrogen to our southern Länder.
Developing a cross-border European hydrogen market will definitely help to accelerate the energy transition and in particular to decarbonise sectors where it is difficult to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Creating a well functioning cross- border hydrogen pipeline infrastructure is an important step towards creating a fully interlinked European hydrogen network, which would be an important contribution to the energy security in Germany.”
The Markets SoutH2 Will Serve
The SoutH2 Corridor is to ensure hydrogen imports from North Africa through southern Italy and is then to be connected to important hydrogen demand clusters in Italy, Austria and Germany.
The trilateral partnership aims at improving the level of energy security for the most important industrial demand clusters of the participating countries and at the same time at fostering the implementation of climate targets in the European Union.
A trilateral working group was created to this end. It is to bring together the relevant stakeholders, including transmission system operators, national regulatory authorities, financial authorities and potential buyers and producers of hydrogen.
The Joint Declaration of Intent recognises the need for a European transition to hydrogen technologies, in particular in order to decarbonise sectors where it is difficult to reduce carbon dioxide.
It also acknowledges the importance of the SoutH2 Corridor as being one of the five large-scale pipelines for hydrogen imports that will facilitate the import of 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030.
Developing the hydrogen import corridor will be a cornerstone of Europe’s green energy landscape and will pave the way for a cleaner and more secure future in the energy sector.
Byline Eric Maina
