A terminal for liquid gas imports is to be built in the port of Wilhelmshaven.
Photo: dpa/Sina Schuldt
“We are incredibly dependent on gas supplies, especially from Russia,” Lower Saxony’s Environment Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) warned in the state parliament last week, where he campaigned for the realization of LNG terminals. After all, around half of Germany’s natural gas supply comes from Russia. Germany’s first LNG terminal might be built in Stade in Lower Saxony on the Lower Elbe or in Wilhelmshaven, Lies said in parliament in Hanover when the decision from Berlin to land in Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony and in Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein for the landing of LNG (liquefied natural gas ) was not yet known. After Chancellor Scholz announced this on Sunday as part of his government statement, Lies explained that there was no longer any doubt that gas imports from Russia might no longer be the basis for security of supply.
For this reason, too, it is important to expand renewable energies even faster. This is also a message to everyone who is skeptical regarding the local expansion projects, emphasized Lies. “The expansion of renewables gives us freedom and independence from energy policy blackmail attempts,” emphasized the minister.
In the short term, it must be ensured that the strategic coal and gas reserves are sufficient. According to the Minister of Energy, the cavern storage facilities are part of a critical supply infrastructure, for which it is difficult to justify that parts of them are in Russian hands. “We mustn’t start another winter with half-empty tanks,” Lies declared emphatically. Also in the short term, he demanded, the necessary infrastructure for the import of liquid gas must be created – initially as an interim solution for fossil gas, in order to then quickly switch to the supply of “green”, climate-neutral gas. “Right from the start, we have to think regarding the LNG terminals announced by the federal government in such a way that they can be used for both – they have to be green gas ready,” emphasized Lies. This is not only technically possible, it is also part of the concepts for such a terminal in Wilhelmshaven.
The state of Lower Saxony will now do everything possible to advance planning for the terminal in its area together with the city of Wilhelmshaven and the federal government. “We can manage to start landing liquid gas as early as 2024.” It is now important to take planning shortcuts wherever possible and to reduce the obstacles to rapid implementation of the project. Talks should also be held with the European Union on this, noted Lies. In case of doubt, the country must “make use of the legal remedy of the fictional approval”. According to the energy minister, this means that if a competent planning authority does not decide on an application for approval within a certain period of time, the approval is deemed to have been granted.
Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU) also expressed approval. “Germany is the only EU country with access to the sea that does not have its own LNG terminal,” he said. Due to its existing port infrastructure, direct access to trans-European natural gas supply networks and gas storage capacities close to the coast, Wilhelmshaven offers excellent location features for the construction of an LNG terminal. Althusmann is also sticking to Stade as a possible location.
