Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

ENERGY

Fresh calls for Spain-France gas pipeline to be put back ‘on the table’

French gas network operator Terega wants to revive a pipeline project between Spain and France, its CEO said Thursday, as the EU seeks to cut the bloc's reliance on Russian energy supplies.

Published: 2 June 2022 17:12 CEST

Fresh calls for Spain-France gas pipeline to be put back 'on the table'

According to Terega, the existing gas connection between France and Spain is already often running at full capacity. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP)

“We will propose in the coming weeks that north-south projects be put back on the table,” Terega CEO Dominique Mockly told a press conference.

Terega, which manages the gas network in southwestern France, received an unfavourable opinion from French and Spanish energy regulators on a new gas line across the Pyrenees in 2019.

The proposal, called Step, was to be a precursor to a larger project called MidCat (Midi-Catalonia).

At the time, it was considered costly and unneeded, and faced criticism from environmental groups.

But European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has put forward a major plan to make the continent independent of Russian energy, said last month that MidCat was “crucial” for “reducing our dependence on Russian fossil fuels”.

READ ALSO: How war in Ukraine is reviving France-Spain MidCat gas pipeline project

Spain has significant capacity to import liquefied natural gas, which could then flow more easily to northern Europe.

“In the current crisis, we cannot allow ourselves to say we are going to pass over these capacities and not look at them,” Mockly said.

According to Terega, the existing gas connection between France and Spain is already often running at full capacity — and the flow, which normally runs north to south, has switched since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mockly said the infrastructure could be “scaled up afterwards to move to hydrogen”.

But the French regulator had reservations on Wednesday.

Jean-Francois Carenco, chairman of the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), said the pipeline would “come into force in 2030 at best” and noted the “development of LNG terminals in northern Europe, the smooth operation of our gas terminals, and the cost”.

READ MORE: Is Spain ready to be the EU’s main natural gas supplier?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Too hot or too cold: Spain's homes struggle to keep comfortable temperatures

Spaniards are increasingly finding it difficult to keep their houses at comfortable temperatures during the summers and winters, and the problem has grown markedly over the last decade.

This follows new data released from Living Conditions Survey recently published by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE), which revealed that over a quarter of families in Spain struggle to heat their homes sufficiently in winter and that a third are too hot in summer.

The percentage of households reporting difficulties in keeping their homes at a comfortable temperature has increased by almost ten percent overall in the last decade.

READ ALSO: Why are Spanish homes so cold?

In the colder months, the proportion that say they can’t keep their property sufficiently warm during winter has grown from 17.9 percent in 2012 to 27.5 percent in 2023.

The summer heat poses an even greater problem for Spaniards. The percentage of households struggling to keep their homes cool enough during the summer months has risen from a quarter (24.8 percent) to over a third (33.6).

READ ALSO: Ten ways to protect your Spanish property against the summer heat

This comes as Spain faces record breaking temperatures year round and rising energy costs. According to Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), 2023 was the third hottest summer since records began, surpassed only by 2022 and 2003.

In summer 2023 alone, four official heat waves were recorded, lasting a total of 24 days.

READ ALSO: How the right orientation of your Spanish home can save you hundreds on energy bills

However, though rising temperatures clearly play a role, so too does geography, income, and poor energy efficiency caused by poor insulation.

Murcia is the region where the highest proportion of households have problems keeping their homes cool in the summer, with almost half of families polled saying they are in this situation (46.6 percent). Murcia was followed by Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Aragón and Extremadura, where the figure is 36 percent.

At the other extreme, in the cooler, northern regions of Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia, it is not even 20 percent.

Despite that, it is also the southern regions that struggle the most with keeping their houses warm enough during the winter. Murcia is once again the region where the highest percentage of families are unable to keep their homes at an adequate temperature over the colder months.

40.1 percent of Murcianos say they find it difficult to heat their homes over winter. In Andalusia and Extremadura the figure is almost 35 percent, the other two regions that top the list, meaning the three most southern regions of Spain came out on top.

In contrast, in Navarre, Castilla y León, and the Basque Country, less than a fifth (20 percent) of households report problems maintaining a sufficiently warm temperature at home during winter.

Household income also factors into this problem. INE data shows that the proportion of households struggling to maintain an adequate temperature in their homes increases as average income decreases. Among families with the lowest income levels, 38.9 percent say that they are cold in winter and 41.3 percent say that they are too hot in summer.

Of the regions that struggle to keep their homes warm or cool enough, Murcia, Andalusia and Extremadura all have some of the lowest median per capita incomes in the whole country, along with some of the highest levels of poverty.

Equally, the parts of the country where this seems to be less of a problem, such as the Basque Country, Galicia, and Navarre, are some of the wealthiest regions of Spain.

Housing quality and insulation also contribute to poor energy efficiency, which in turn makes temperature control more difficult. Even among households with high incomes, 15 percent say that they are unable to heat their property sufficiently in winter and 24.8 percent struggle to keep it cool enough in summer.

According to INE data, a quarter (25.1 percent) of Spanish households have not made any improvements to their thermal insulation or heating system in the last year, significantly more than the 14.1 percent who have been able to make changes.

Url copied to clipboard!