Portugal, Spain to duly present 'Green Energy Corridor' plan to EU

Lisbon, Nov 5 (IANS) The Portuguese and Spanish governments announced the decision to present the financing plan for the "Green Energy Corridor" with France before December 15 as required by the European Commission.

As part of the 33rd Iberian Summit in the city of Viana do Castelo, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that the project starts with the construction of an "energy storage center" in Caceres in western Spain's Extremadura region, reports Xinhua new agency.

Costa welcomed the agreement reached by Portugal, Spain and France at a joint press conference with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the end of the 33rd Portuguese-Spanish summit.

"I want to guarantee that electrical interconnections are also included in this agreement and that Spain will fulfill, as it could not fail to be, its commitment," Sanchez said.

The two Prime Ministers pledged to "give top priority to the conclusion of the renewable gas interconnection" in the agreement.

"Given the European dimension of this project, (the governments) will work closely with the European Commission in the coming weeks, namely to identify sources of European funding," they said in a joint statement.

Concerning the production of renewable energy, they highlighted "the potential importance of offshore renewable energy sources and agreed to cooperate and accelerate their production by 2030".

Costa said that the Recovery and Resilience Plan envisages constructing two roads between the Portuguese districts of Portalegre and Faro, and the Spanish border, besides increasing the rail connection between the two countries.