Zero Association criticizes plans for natural gas

The plan for the development of the natural gas network and structures, whose public consultation ended on Friday, is criticized by the environmental association Zero, which presented an opinion rejecting and opposing the document.

The negative opinion was presented to the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE), within the scope of the public consultation, and because, in the association's opinion, Portugal should gradually close the fossil natural gas network and not invest in this network, as provided for in the document, the so-called Ten-Year Indicative Plan for Development and Investment in the National Transport Network, Storage Infrastructures and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) Terminals PDIRG 2025.

The PDIRG 2025, in its current form, is not aligned with the national and European decarbonization trajectory, does not respect the principles of energy sufficiency and efficiency, and risks perpetuating obsolete fossil gas infrastructures, compromising resources that should be directed towards truly sustainable energy solutions”, says Zero in a statement released this Saturday.

The PDIRG 2025 focuses on mixing hydrogen with fossil gas (natural gas) and foresees investments of over 111 million euros to adapt the gas transport network (RNTG) and underground storage to mixtures of up to 10% hydrogen by volume.

One option, Zero believes, seeks to maintain the current gas network as the central part of the energy system, and which not only lacks economic and technical rationality, but is also “explicitly discouraged by the new European legislative framework”, as ERSE itself has announced.

Injecting green hydrogen into the grid, consuming a large amount of renewable energy, is “betting on a short-term model” and technologically outdated, says the association, which defends the decentralized production of hydrogen or methane as the best model, because it reduces transportation costs and avoids investments in large networks.

Green hydrogen, Zero argues, should be used in sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as maritime transport, aviation and part of heavy industry, and not for residential or general consumption through the existing gas network.

What needs to be done, and urgently, is to start planning the end of the RNTG, so that it is completely closed “from the mid-2040s”

With the progressive electrification of consumption and the strong reduction already observed in gas consumption in Europe and Portugal, there is no economic, environmental or strategic justification for continuing to expand or extend the life cycle of large fossil gas infrastructures”, notes Zero.

Therefore, the statement also states, investing in the Sines LNG Terminal is inconsistent with the decarbonization trajectory and out of step with climate objectives, in addition to being a high risk of creating more investments without return.