Enagás will be able to operate as provisional manager of the hydrogen backbone.

Royal Decree-Law 8/2023, published in the Official State Gazette, which adopts measures to address the economic and social consequences of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as to alleviate the effects of the drought, provides for Enagás, as the manager of the natural gas transmission network (in accordance with the provisions of Article 63 bis of Law 34/1998, of 7 October, on the hydrocarbons sector), to operate as provisional operator of the hydrogen backbone.

The Royal Decree-Law states that the managers of the natural gas transmission network "may submit to the Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines, within a period of four months from the entry into force of this Royal Decree-Law, a non-binding proposal for the development of the hydrogen backbone infrastructure, with a ten-year horizon". They may also "act as representatives in the European Network of Network Operators for Hydrogen".

Likewise, and in accordance with Royal Decree-Law 8/2023, "provisionally, by agreement of the Council of Ministers and through horizontally separate legal entities, they may exercise the functions of developing the hydrogen backbone within the scope of projects of common European interest". The Royal Decree-Law states that "this provisional regime shall apply until such time as the Hydrogen Network Operators are definitively appointed, in accordance with the conditions established in the applicable European regulations".

Source: Enagás