The German government on Thursday took another step in reducing Russia’s dependence on energy, agreeing to acquire a fifth facility to import liquefied natural gas. The new facility, a floating terminal with a five-year lease, will be his second facility in Wilhelmshaven, a northern German port that is becoming a major energy hub.
The terminal has the capacity to import approximately 6% of Germany’s gas consumption. By backing these facilities, the government hopes to provide Germany, Europe’s largest economy, with a substantial buffer against further cuts in supplies from Russia.
Thursday’s deal is also a potential advance in green energy. The group of investors and companies behind the new LNG terminal have ambitions to supply Germany and other countries with green energy in the form of hydrogen on a scale that could make a difference in tackling climate change. and the LNG deal seems to show the group’s plans. German government permission.
Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck announced the deal along with representatives of participating companies at a press conference in Berlin on Thursday.
As Russia curbs natural gas supplies in apparent retaliation for the sanctions imposed for the war in Ukraine, officials in Germany and elsewhere in Europe are threatening to cut supplies of fossil fuel natural gas. To strengthen, build terminals and supply worlds.
Former Green Party leader Habeck said much of the infrastructure under construction to supply LNG, which Europe is backing as an important clean fuel of the future, could be reused for hydrogen imports. It works in favor of voters who care about the environment.
“By importing liquefied natural gas, we can reduce Russia’s reliance on pipeline gas imports,” Havek said in a news release distributed by the two companies. “At the same time, we are accelerating the import of green hydrogen in parallel.”
Even if the latest project doesn’t come online until after winter, Häbeck seemed optimistic that Germany wouldn’t face a serious gas shortage in the coming months. As long as energy-saving rules are followed, these measures “hopefully get us through the winter without much disruption,” he said.
The group managing the new Wilhelmshaven terminal will begin operations with conventional LNG imports in late 2023. It will then gradually shift to liquefied gas produced by mixing hydrogen extracted using solar or wind energy with carbon dioxide recovered from industry.
“We plan to build the world’s largest hydrogen and green energy terminal,” said Marco Alverà, chief executive of private company Tree Energy Solutions, part of the group commissioned to manage the new LNG facility. said Mr. The company has already acquired 370 acres of land in Wilhelmshaven and will eventually have six berths for ships on the harbor pier. French energy supplier Engie and German utility E.ON are also participating.
Alverà argues that Europe alone cannot be expected to produce all the renewable energy needed to phase out fossil fuels from domestic sources. Instead, his plan is to bring hydrogen produced from large wind or solar farms built in countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Australia, or the United States, at a very low cost.
Alverà also plans to use the existing infrastructure to reduce costs. For example, he said his large LNG tankers around the world could transport his fuel.
The main owners of Tree Energy Solutions are Paul and Marcel van Pocke, a Dutch brother with a long track record of investing in conventional energy facilities, including oil refineries. The company recently hired Alverà, the former chief executive of Italian gas transport company Snam. He is a longtime hydrogen fan and has written two of his books on the fuel’s potential benefits.