Source: Energy & Management Powernews, September 26, 2022
In Brunsbüttel, construction has begun on a pipeline to connect the planned liquefied natural gas terminal to the grid. Also with the other LNG projects it goes rapidly forward.
The three-kilometer-long pipeline is to connect the berth for the floating storage an regasification unit (FSRU) in the industrial area of Brunsbüttel first with the gas distribution network, so that liquid natural gas can flow over it still this year. It leads into the distribution network of SH Netz in the Holstendamm area (Dithmarschen district) and has a transport capacity of between 3.5 and 5 billion m³ per year.
As a further step, a 54-kilometer pipeline is planned that will enable a connection to the European long-distance gas network by the end of 2023. It runs from Brunsbüttel to Hetlingen (Pinneberg district) and is intended to enable the transport of 7.5 bcm of gas per year.
In contrast to conventional gas projects, Brunsbüttel did not undergo a planning approval procedure, but a planning permission procedure. This was possible because the German government had initiated shortened procedures for the construction of liquefied natural gas infrastructure with the LNG Acceleration Act.
In a planning approval procedure, there is no public participation - in contrast to the planning approval procedure. However, carriers of public interests had been involved and there was the possibility for environmental associations to comment. Approval of the large pipeline is also subject to this procedure. Here, preparatory work has already been approved.
The start of construction for the small pipeline was attended on September 23 by Schleswig-Holstein's Energy Minister Tobias Goldschmidt, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics Stefan Wenzel (both Greens) and Jens Schumann, Managing Director of the long-distance gas network operator Gasunie Deutschland.
"Strong work of the approval authorities"
Also with the other LNG projects in the country it goes - as already reported - ahead. In the planning approval process for the construction of an LNG jetty in Stade, also at the mouth of the Elbe, the early start of initial partial measures has been approved. In Stade, one of the five FSRU chartered by the federal government is also to moor and feed gas into the German network from the end of 2023 onwards.
Lower Saxony's Energy Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) had praised the "strong work of our approval authorities" in this context, which makes it possible to become independent of Russian gas and guarantee security of supply. The infrastructure that is being created here is also capable of importing green gas, he said. The approval granted for Stade applies, among other things, to the setting up of the construction site, the construction of the sheet pile walls and the water dredging to create the floating depth.
In Lubmin, after the long-distance gas network operator Gascade, Deutsche Regas has started work on another LNG terminal. Here, too, the initial focus is on creating an FSRU berth. Gascade, meanwhile, is working on a 450-meter pipeline to the port.
As recently announced, Regas has secured Macquarie, an important investor for the project. Macquarie Capital, the corporate advisory, capital markets and principal investment arm of the Macquarie Group, is contributing to the company as part of an initial minority investment, Regas said.
LNG terminals are also planned in Wilhelmshaven in Germany, in addition to Lubmin, Stade and Brunsbüttel. The first of two terminals there is also to start work as early as this winter; the gas pipelines for the connection are currently being laid, as is the transport pipeline at sea. From the sites Wilhelmshaven II and Stade should be able to import liquefied natural gas from the winter of 2023.
According to the Federal Cartel Office, the utilities Uniper, RWE and EnBW/VNG may initially exclusively and jointly manage the two LNG terminals in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven. Stade is to be operated by Hanseatic Energy Hub GmbH.
Environmental aid sues against transit times
Meanwhile, German environmental aid group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) is taking action against the LNG pipeline in Wilhelmshaven. It wants to achieve that fossil natural gas may flow through the pipe only until the year 2033. After that, it is to be used exclusively for green gases. This is intended to ensure that the emission reductions specified in the Climate Protection Act remain achievable, DUH said. Federal managing director Sascha Mueller-Kraenner fears that by a temporally unlimited permission a stimulus could develop world-wide to open new natural gas fields.
Author: Günter Drewnitzky
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