In what he described as a “structural revolution in the economy,” Portugal’s Prime Minister asserted that the creation of green hydrogen will enable Portugal to not only create the energy it needs, but also to turn into an exporter.

António Costa stressed that “one of the chronic problems of the country is its dependence on energy” and the importance that energy has on the national trade balance, which was made worse by the conflict in Ukraine, at the signing ceremony of the contracts under the first Support Program for the Production of Renewable Hydrogen and other Renewable Gases under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

The country will no longer import a large portion of the energy it uses because it will start producing it, according to the prime minister, but it must have additional goals for the future.

Germany’s desire to participate in the project of the so-called “green hydrogen corridor,” developed by France, Portugal, and Spain, was seen by the prime minister as “the best demonstration that there is an effective interest on the European market” in importing green hydrogen produced in the Iberian Peninsula.

The 25 projects signed received 102 million euros from the PRR in total, although they total 237 million euros in investment.

Regarding the environmental aspect, he emphasized that it will be feasible to reduce 167 thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions alone through these 25 initiatives.

The prime minister emphasized that many of the projects that were signed today “are not on the shore or in huge urban centers,” but rather they are close to industrial facilities, with many of them being inland.

The government will establish a second program this month to promote initiatives in the field of renewable gases, the Minister for the Environment and Climate Action revealed at the start of the ceremony, with an allocation of 83 million euros.