Liquefied pure fuel: Stade is now turning into a German power hub | EUROtoday

As of 4:08 p.m | Reading time: 4 minutes

JThe discussions, planning and preparations took years – now the development of Germany's largest import terminal for deep-cooled, liquefied pure fuel (LNG) can start in Stade on the Lower Elbe. The corporations concerned introduced their ultimate resolution to take a position a complete of round one billion euros on Thursday. The official groundbreaking ceremony is predicted to happen within the coming weeks. The so-called Hanseatic Energy Hub mission is supported by the Swiss monetary firm Partners Group, the Hamburg port logistics firm BUSS Group, the US chemical firm Dow and the Spanish power provide firm Enagás.

Imports of the stationary LNG terminal are scheduled to start in 2027; the ability can feed as much as 13.3 billion cubic meters of pure fuel into the German community yearly – this corresponds to round 15 % of Germany's annual pure fuel necessities. However, a number of the pure fuel imported through Stade will even be forwarded to different European nations. The three European power suppliers EnBW, SEFE and ČEZ have booked 90 % of the LNG portions in Stade on a long-term foundation. The remaining capability is reserved for short-term bookings.

Last week, the terminal ship “Energos Force” moored on the newly constructed LNG pier on the port of Stade. LNG will now be imported into Stade through this particular ship till the landside terminal is accomplished. Germany can receive LNG fuel from many nations – not like pipeline fuel, which Germany now primarily will get from Norway after the Russian export fuel ceased. Qatar, the USA, Australia and Algeria, amongst others, provide LNG. For transport on tankers, pure fuel is cooled to minus 161 to minus 164, liquefied into LNG and compressed. At the land station, the LNG is heated once more and expanded – one cubic meter of LNG produces 600 cubic meters of pure fuel.

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“For me as a co-initiator and driver, it is particularly fulfilling to make an important contribution to Germany’s energy security with this project,” mentioned Johann Killinger, proprietor of Buss Group. “I am also very pleased to be able to give Lower Saxony a strong boost to its economic development. This success is only possible thanks to the determined support from our customers, from politicians and administration in Hanover and Berlin and – very importantly – from the region.”

“As an LNG terminal in a strategic location, the Hanseatic Energy Hub will play an important role in securing energy supplies and supporting the energy transition in Germany and Europe in the future,” mentioned Carsten König, Managing Director Infrastructure at Partners Group. Arturo Gonzalo, CEO of Enagás, mentioned: “Enagás has significantly increased its commitment in Germany by increasing its shareholding to 15 percent in the Hanseatic Energy Hub. This is fully in line with our corporate strategy to contribute to securing energy supplies and driving forward decarbonization in Europe.” Enagás will function the LNG terminal in Stade.

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A number of months after the Russian assault on Ukraine, Russia minimize off pure fuel exports through pipeline to Western Europe in the summertime of 2022. Until then, Germany had imported round 50 billion cubic meters of pure fuel yearly from Russia, half of its whole demand on the time. Within just a few months, the federal authorities organized 4 floating LNG import ships, so-called Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU). Three of them have to this point moored in Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbüttel and now in Stade, and a fourth ship is predicted in Wilhelmshaven this 12 months. Two additional FSRUs organized personal corporations to function off the island of Rügen and off the port of Lubmin.

At the identical time, two tasks for land-based LNG terminals which have existed for years had been additionally accelerated, together with Stade and a mission in Brunsbüttel with a barely decrease annual import capability. The terminal in Stade is designed to import synthetically produced methane and biomethane along with LNG. In the long term, the terminal is to be transformed to synthetically produced, “green” ammonia – this consists of hydrogen, which was produced in electrolysis utilizing inexperienced electrical energy, and nitrogen from the environment. Because its use is already established worldwide, ammonia is taken into account a mass-produced, climate-neutral power supply. However, environmental teams have already threatened authorized motion in opposition to the development of each terminals in Stade and Brunsbüttel.

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Hydrogen for Germany

At its location in Stade, the chemical firm Dow Chemical can be an important purchaser initially for LNG fuel and later additionally for climate-neutral power sources akin to ammonia. “The land-based LNG terminal will be a crucial building block in the transition to a CO₂-neutral future in Germany and Europe,” mentioned Julia Schlenz, CEO and President of Dow Germany: “It is these bridging technologies that we as an industry in Germany need, in order to help shape the transformation in the long term.”