RoydadNaft –  German gas grid operator Open Grid Europe (OGE) is joining its French, Spanish and Portuguese peers working to develop a multibillion-euro hydrogen pipeline connecting the Iberian peninsula to France and on to Central Europe, Chief Financial Officer Frank Reiners said on Wednesday.

Reiners was speaking at an event on the project, known as H2MED, where a senior German government official called for the pipeline development to be sped up.

Spain and France, which are both investing in hydrogen to help drive Europe’s transition to a low carbon economy, have disagreed over whether the H2MED pipeline should carry the gas if it is produced using nuclear power.

The French ambassador to Germany, François Delattre, said there must be no discrimination against nuclear energy as a source to produce hydrogen.

“The hydrogen market will be delayed if there is no equitable treatment between renewables and low carbon sources” like nuclear, he said.