Europe’s gas and electrical grids need expanding

project is all about connecting countries. But when it comes to energy, that has often proved tricky. After years of discussion about MidCat, a gas pipeline through the Pyrenees aiming to bring imported Spanish natural gas to the rest of the continent, the plan was abruptly shelved on October 20th. France has its own energy plans, with a dominant nuclear-power industry and sufficient gas-import facilities for its needs, and saw little need to spend money on the project. As compensation, France’s Emmanuel Macron agreed to launch a new scheme—an undersea pipeline for natural gas and hydrogen from Barcelona to Marseilles, called BarMar. The logjam over MidCat is a good example of why Europe’s energy market remains fragmented. The continent’s energy system is undergoing its largest transformation yet. It needs to slash carbon emissions through increasing the share of renewables in electricity generation, while producing more juice for an increasingly electrified population of cars, and to run heat pumps that replace gas. Meanwhile the gas market, which in Germany and its eastern neighbours has long been dominated by Russia, now needs to adapt to receiving more liquefied natural gas () through ports for distribution across Europe.