ENTSOG Gas Regional Investment Plan South 2017

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88 | Gas Regional Investment Plan of the South Region 2017
7.1.2 MADRID DECLARATION
On 4 March 2015, the President of France, the Prime Minister of Spain, the Prime
Minister of Portugal, and the President of the European Commission, signed the
“Madrid Declaration1)”. In the signature meeting were also present the Commission-
er for Climate Action and Energy, and the President of the European Investment
Bank. In this declaration, they “agree on the need to actively assess in order to com-
plete the Eastern gas axis between Portugal, Spain and France, allowing bidirectional
flows between the Iberian Peninsula and France through a new interconnection
project currently known as the MidCat. The 3rd Portugal-Spain interconnection
should be developed in accordance”.
The three Governments also agreed on the setting up of a new regional High Level
Group for South-West Europe on interconnections that will be led by the European
Commission. This High Level Group will be in charge of monitoring the implementation
of the Madrid Declaration.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of the High
Level Group, the Implementation Plan for gas “should focus on the development of
the Eastern axis, allowing bidirectional gas flows between the Iberian Peninsula and
the French gas systems, notably through the MidCat project and the third
interconnection point between Portugal and Spain. Eliminating the existing
bottlenecks within the three countries will also be considered”.
As stated in the 1st Progress Report of Madrid Declaration2), the “French and
Spanish transmission system operators, ministries and regulators launched a
preliminary study regarding the MidCat project” (MidCat Technical studies, see
section below). The results of this technical study were presented to the European
Commission and the National Regulatory Authorities in April 2016.
At the same time, the European Commission launched a study, to analyse the
benefits and costs of additional gas interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula
and the rest of Europe. The study was developed by Ramboll3), and their final results
were presented in April 2016.
The High Level Group agreed in September 2016 the Terms of Reference of a
project specific Cost Benefit Analysis (PS-CBA) for STEP4) and the Implementation
Plans for the gas and electricity projects identified as key project in the implemen-
tation of the Madrid Declaration. In summer 2016, the European Commission
launched a call for tender to prepare a project specific Cost-Benefit Analysis (PS-
CBA) for STEP. This PS-CBA will be used for the 3rd PCI list process, and will be
consistent with the results from the Technical study (see below), updated technical
information on the French side and with ENTSOG methodology.
1) Madrid Declaration:
2) High Level Group on Interconnections for South-West Europe - Progress Report (March – December 2015) https://
West_Europe%20HLG.pdf
3) Study on the benefits of additional gas interconnections between Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. Final report.
and-the-rest-of-europe-pbMJ0216421/?CatalogCategoryID=EhEKABstLQkAAAEjyZAY4e5L
4) Enagás and TIGF, the project promoters, changed the name of the project from “MidCat 1st Phase” to
“STEP (South Transit East Pyrenees)”. This new name was included in ENTSOG TYNDP 2017, for the first time
in ENTSOG TYNDP. ENTSOG published the Annex A with infrastructure projects of TYNDP 21017 in July 2016.
TEN-YEAR-NETWORK-DEVELOPMENT-PLAN-2017