Wilhelmshaven: First pier for LNG terminal is ready | NDR.de – News – Lower Saxony

“The early decision to choose Wilhelmshaven as a hub for LNG imports was correct,” said Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Olaf Lies (SPD). He had come to the opening of the Jade Fairway, south of Hooksiel’s outer harbor. In a month the “Höegh Esperanza” will also moor there. This special vessel, called a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), takes liquefied gas from tankers and turns it back into gas on board. This gas flows via the pier on land and is fed into the German grid there.

A tanker delivers liquid gas to the floating terminal – in Wilhelmshaven it will be the ship “Höegh Esperanza”. There, LNG becomes gas again, which flows via the investor into the gas network on land.

LNG tankers are coming in mid-January

It is the first ship that Germany has chartered for landing LNG. According to the state government, tankers with LNG should arrive in Wilhelmshaven from mid-January onwards. Construction work on the landing site began in May of this year. Among other things, they had progressed so quickly because approval procedures had been accelerated. In addition, the new pier was built on an existing pier. The first ramming took place on May 5 in the presence of Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens). Almost 200 days later the feeder is ready.

Further information

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More floating LNG terminals under construction

The line of the terminal in Wilhelmshaven has an annual capacity of ten billion cubic meters, three billion are to flow from January to March. The German annual consumption of gas is around 90 billion cubic meters. Three more floating LNG terminals are currently being planned and under construction – in Stade, Brunsbüttel (Schleswig-Holstein) and Lubmin (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). In mid-October, the federal government also signed a contract for the fifth state-rented LNG terminal. It is to be used in Wilhelmshaven from autumn 2023. At the same time, the prerequisites for a permanent terminal for landing green hydrogen are to be created in Wilhelmshaven.

Environment Minister Meyer doubts the sense of three terminals

The “Höegh Esperanza” is scheduled to dock in Wilhelmshaven in December. It converts LNG into gas.

Lower Saxony’s Environment Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) said in a statement that the new investor would contribute to security of supply in Lower Saxony and in Germany. However, he wants to reduce the imports of fossil energies, including natural gas: “The aim is to switch to climate-neutral green gases as quickly as possible and to make Wilhelmshaven a hub for green hydrogen and the import of renewable energies from the North Sea,” said Meyer.

Lies’ plans have been sharply criticized by environmental organizations

His predecessor Olaf Lies was involved in the planning of the LNG terminals Faced criticism from environmental organizations. They fear damage from toxic waste water and demand that the operator Uniper should not clean its systems with chlorine. The fact that Uniper relies on the discharge of large quantities of biocides right next to the Wadden Sea National Park and in the vicinity of bathing beaches is unacceptable, according to the German Environmental Aid, for example. The new Environment Minister Meyer said on Monday: “There will be no environmental discount.” There will be intensive observation. “Should limit values ​​be exceeded or nature endangered, countermeasures must be taken.”

Further information

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Most are opposed to the fact that the operator Uniper wants to discharge wastewater contaminated with biocides into the North Sea. (10/21/2022) more