Malta has overcome a hurdle in its bid to ensure that an eventual hydrogen-ready undersea gas pipeline will be eligible for EU funding.

The country's previous bid for EU funding to build a €400 million pipeline had failed, with Brussels saying Malta had failed to provide sufficient justification for it. 

The assurance secured this week, in the form of a derogation agreed upon by EU ministers, is that such a pipeline project will be recognised as a Project of Common Interest by the EU, allowing the government to apply for funding under revised Trans-European Transport Network regulations.

Malta was one of two countries to secure such a derogation, with fellow island-state Cyprus being the other. Those derogations must now be confirmed by discussions between the EU Council, Commission and Parliament. 

Negotiations to secure the derogation took place in Luxembourg during an EU energy council meeting. Maltese negotiations were led by Energy Minister Miriam Dalli.   

A derogation was necessary after Malta's previous efforts to secure funding for an undersea pipeline came unstuck, with Brussels turning down the country's bid as it deprioritised spending on gas projects.

The EU was also unconvinced by Malta's pledge that the pipeline would be hydrogen-ready, and in the months following its failure to secure funding for the €400 million project, the government had focused its efforts on redrafting its hydrogen pipeline plans.

Studies assessing how Malta’s gas-fired power station could be converted to run on hydrogen are in authorities’ hands, Times of Malta reported last July.

The studies also propose a 159-kilometre long, 22-inch diameter hydrogen-ready pipeline connecting Delimara to Gela in Sicily.

During meetings in Luxembourg, Dalli argued that member states such as Malta should be linked to the European grid, allowing them to access new energy markets such as that for hydrogen.

The EU should understand the realities of small states such as Malta, she argued.

“This is the first step in making sure that when hydrogen becomes available in Europe, we would be able to apply for infrastructure securing connectivity to the European networks,” Dalli said.

Miriam Dalli (centre) negotiates at the EU Energy Council.

Hydrogen-fuelled power is not yet available in Europe, although technology is rapidly advancing and the EU has said that it expects hydrogen power to be an intrinsic part of the bloc’s energy system by 2030, rising to large-scale deployment by 2050.  

Unlike hydrocarbons such as coal, oil or LNG, hydrogen is carbon-free.