BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 8. The European Commission has officially confirmed two projects, SoutH2Corridor and Callisto Mediterranean CO2 Network, in which Snam is involved, as part of the sixth list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) of the EU, Trend reports.
According to Snam, the European Parliament and the EU Council have completed their review period, formally adopting the sixth list and confirming the projects within it. These projects were added to the list on November 28.
The SoutH2 Corridor, also known as the “Hydrogen Corridor Italy - Austria – Germany,” includes Snam along with Transmission System Operators (TSOs) Trans Austria Gasleitung (TAG) and Gas Connect Austria (GCA) in Austria, and bayernets in Germany. On the other hand, the Callisto Mediterranean CO2 Network includes the Carbon Capture and Storage project in Ravenna, which is currently being developed by Eni and Snam, and is part of the CO2 transport network currently under development.
Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) are identified by the European Commission every two years as crucial cross-border infrastructure projects that connect the energy systems of EU countries. The officially confirmed PCI projects will benefit from accelerated approval and implementation procedures, as well as, under certain conditions, access to European funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
The Italian H2 Backbone is a key component of the SoutH2 Corridor, a hydrogen pipeline project currently in development by European Transmission System Operators (TSOs) Snam, TAG, GCA, and bayernets. It consists of approximately 3,300 km of pipelines and several hundred MW of compression capacity, which will eventually be dedicated to hydrogen.
The SoutH2 Corridor is part of the broader European Hydrogen Backbone and plays a vital role in establishing an interconnected and diverse hydrogen network across Southern and Central Europe. With the capacity to import 4 million tons per annum (Mtpa) of hydrogen from North Africa, the corridor could fulfill over 40 percent of the overall import target outlined in the REPowerEU Plan.
This initiative focuses on repurposing existing midstream infrastructure for hydrogen transportation, supplemented by new infrastructure where necessary. Utilizing mostly repurposed pipelines (over 70 percent) ensures the long-term security of natural gas supply while enabling cost-effective production and transport of hydrogen. Additionally, it facilitates access to prime locations for renewable hydrogen production, particularly in the southern Mediterranean region (Southern Italy, Tunisia, and Algeria), where wind and solar resources are abundant.