Two giant ships docked at a pier in the Dutch port of Eemshaven are central to the country’s counterattack against Russia, which limits its energy supply to Europe.
On a stormy autumn day, the nearly 1,000-foot-long Gaslog Georgetown pumped liquefied natural gas brought in from the U.S. Gulf Coast to a vessel designed to receive refrigerated fuel and send it to an onshore pipeline. I was sending it in.
These cargoes of LNG, which began arriving in mid-September, are carrying large volumes of natural gas not only to the Netherlands, but also to other energy-hungry European countries, including Germany and the Czech Republic.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Dutch energy officials knew Europe faced a terrifying threat, but their country, with its central location and extensive pipeline links, also understood that it could help keep the continent from shivering in the cold this winter.
“We realized that the Netherlands is once again very important to Europe,” said Ulco Vermeulen, director and board member of the national energy infrastructure company Gasunie. “We can load goods and take them to European destinations.”
But in a country where environmental concerns are a top priority, increasing reliance on LNG has created fears. Home to some of the world’s largest natural gas fields, the Netherlands is now dotted with clean energy initiatives that support the European Union’s goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. that proves. Last year, a court in The Hague issued an order against Shell. He is one of the country’s largest companies before moving to London to accelerate the reduction of carbon emissions by curbing oil and gas production and sales.
Dutch environmentalists want energy companies like Shell, which have contracts to buy some of the LNG flowing into Eemshaven, to use new natural gas sources even in the years of the emergency. skeptical about doing They say billions of euros of investment in infrastructure around the terminal could lead to a stable flow of his LNG imports even after the energy crisis has passed.
“There could be some kind of lock-in effect at work,” said Kirsten Sleven, a campaigner for Milieudefensie, the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth, which has filed a lawsuit against Shell.
Countries around the world suffer from similar problems. There is a danger that governments will “learn the wrong lessons” from the crisis and “put short-term energy security first and stop thinking about tomorrow’s climate change,” said the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. said Jason Bordoff, director of .
Dutch energy officials believed they were facing an emergency as Russian President Vladimir V. Putin began threatening to cut off gas supplies to Europe over his opposition to an invasion of Ukraine.
Cutting what would normally take years of negotiations, regulatory approvals and construction into months, Vermeulen, port officials and other executives are working to build pipelines, piers, and construction projects from Russia. We have put together the other infrastructure necessary to import liquefied natural gas to prevent blockages.
The facility has two floating LNG terminals. The leased vessels are full of equipment to turn the chilled liquids delivered by ocean-going tankers back into steam and send them to the European grid.
While Russia is currently slashing pipeline gas flows to Europe, Vermeulen said the Netherlands probably has enough resources to survive the winter, when natural gas consumption typically surges. says he will. However, he worries that pipeline bottlenecks will make it difficult to supply parts of Europe.
The Netherlands has also taken other emergency measures, such as permitting the start-up of coal-fired power plants.
European energy officials like Vermeulen argue that rolling back climate targets is not their goal. For example, Vermeulen said negotiations for the floating facility demanded he limit the lease to five years, even though some parties wanted his ten years. Capacity will be ready in Europe and hydrogen will begin to be available in commercial quantities.
Some argue that the war-triggered energy crisis in Ukraine could accelerate the shift to cleaner fuels, as natural gas prices soar. Europe’s benchmark futures prices have fallen in recent days, but before the crisis began, he remained about eight times higher than it was two years ago.
Clean energy technologies that were once thought to be too costly suddenly appear to be becoming more competitive.
“I think the cost of natural gas will be much higher than it used to be,” said Peter Mollengraaf, adviser to the Dutch government on energy innovation. I am sure it will be a target.”
A major concern, however, is whether residents, who have been slammed by the recent sharp rise in their energy, food and other essentials bills, can afford to buy electric cars and energy-saving heat pumps for their homes. Jack Wallage, who served as mayor of Groningen on
In the Netherlands, the current energy crisis has a long and complicated history. In 1959 he one of the world’s largest natural gas fields was discovered beneath some 350 square miles of vast farmland and picturesque villages in the province of Groningen, including Eemshaven. The discovery has spurred the construction of a large pipeline network that has provided the Netherlands and neighboring countries with cheaper, cleaner energy than coal for decades.
Over the past decade, these benefits have been overshadowed by earthquakes caused by gas extraction, damaging homes and making life miserable for residents. “The earthquake changed your whole life,” said Jaap Pasteur, who runs a dairy farm with his wife Nienke.
After years of dodging grievances, the Dutch government, which had made huge revenues from gas, in 2019 gave Shell and ExxonMobil, which operate the Groningen oil field through a joint venture known as NAM, a contract for gas production. was ordered to be minimized. Reserves worth hundreds of billions of euros are to be left in the ground.
Despite the current gas stockpiles that could contribute significantly to strengthening Europe’s energy supply, the government is cautious about re-throttling Groningen, especially for fear of backlash from residents.
“There is a strong opinion that the gas field should never be reopened,” said Janet Uebers, who is rebuilding her earthquake-damaged home in Westeremden village and installing electric heating to make it independent of gas. .
Some say it makes little sense to keep Groningen’s gas taps nearly closed in an emergency.
Weibren van Haaga, a right-wing member of the Dutch parliament, said, “This decision is downright appalling. It’s technically flawed, politically motivated, and costly.”
But few believe the government will allow Groningen to reopen, except in extreme circumstances. Vermeulen said the government views gas fields as “a real lender of last resort.”
There is also a focus on switching to cleaner energy around giant gas fields.
“Everyone feels the urgency because of the current geopolitical situation with Russia,” said Melissa van Hoorn, Regional Minister for Climate and Energy Transition.
Solar and wind power is growing rapidly in the Netherlands, and interest in hydrogen is currently growing. It’s a clean-burning fuel that companies are betting will be used in large quantities to store energy and power heavy vehicles and heavy industry. Groningen’s network of gas pipelines could one day be used to supply fuels like hydrogen.
In Rotterdam, Shell is building what is expected to be Europe’s largest electrolysis plant, which will use electricity to produce hydrogen from water. The power will come from a huge wind farm off the coast, thus producing “green” hydrogen.
Despite moving its headquarters last year, the company, which maintains a large presence in the Netherlands, has real-world experience in supplying hydrogen to 32 buses in the Groningen area.
“This is new and we have to learn how to do it,” said Ruben Van Grinsven, general manager of hydrogen at Shell.
Cas König, CEO of Groningen Seaports, which operates ports at Eemshaven and nearby Delfzijl, was one of the hard-working players behind the rapid development of a liquefied natural gas terminal. Still, a conflict with Russia over energy could accelerate the transition to clean energy, he said.
He is expanding plans to import hydrogen that will require more than a small country like the Netherlands can produce domestically. The gas will be used by the port’s cluster of power and chemical plants and could be supplied to other parts of the Netherlands and neighboring countries such as Belgium and Germany.
“As soon as the infrastructure is in place, the economy will follow,” he said.
Claire Moses Contributed a report from London.