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Italy to present hydrogen corridor strategy in fall, may include Switzerland

Italy will host an occasion in the autumn to provide a network to carry hydrogen from the southern Mediterranean to northern Europe, its energy minister told on Wednesday, stating Switzerland might also be included.

The so-called SouthH2 Corridor would connect North Africa, Italy, Austria and Germany, allowing sustainable hydrogen produced in the Southern Mediterranean to reach European industries.

The job, which involves a group of companies including Italian gas grid operator Snam, won

top priority status

from the European Commission in 2015.

We are progressing, in the fall we will have an official moment in Rome for the discussion, Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin told after a question time session at the Italian lower house of parliament.

Europe is trying to begin the production and import of renewable hydrogen - a fuel made utilizing sustainable electrical power - which countries are betting on to cut fossil fuel use in commercial procedures such as steel-making.

We are planning a hydrogen transport through Austria, connecting Switzerland, and into Germany, Pichetto stated.

Trans Austria Gasleitung (TAG), Gas Link Austria ( GCA) and bayernets in Germany are working with Snam to develop the 3,300-km project.

With a hydrogen import capacity of more than 4 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) from North Africa, the pipeline might provide 40% of the European Union's hydrogen import target set for 2030, and might be functional by as early as that year.

The plan was

officially announced

in May when energy ministers from Italy, Austria and Germany signed a cooperation agreement as part of an EU technique to decarbonise its industry.

Pichetto said pipeline connections currently in place with Libya and Tunisia might be part of the passage, including another alternative would be to transform the green fuel into ammonia and ship it to Europe.

Last year

sources told Italy remained in initial talks with Bavaria's government to supply gas and hydrogen to the southern German state.

In Germany, it is clear that the top place we get here ... is Bavaria, Pichetto said.

(source: Reuters)