Scholz points to the “record time” in which the infrastructure was built and its contribution to security of supply
Germany today began its technical energy independence from Russia with the inauguration of the first maritime terminal to receive liquefied natural gas (LNG), mainly from the United States and the countries of the Persian Gulf. The inauguration ceremony in Wilhelmshaven, on the shores of the North Sea, was so relevant that the leaders of the tripartite, the Chancellor, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, the Minister of Economics, the Green Robert Habeck and the Minister, Liberal Christian Lindner. The special ship ‘Höegh Esperanza0’, 300 meters long, had docked this week at the floating terminal for LNG processing, which will process the liquefied gas and send it to the German gas pipeline network.
“This is an important contribution to our energy security,” Scholz said at the opening, emphasizing that Germany’s energy supply “is already independent of Russian gas and oil pipelines.” He added that the aim now is to commission the other three LNG terminals under construction as soon as possible, noting that “then we can say that Germany has guaranteed its energy security.” The head of the German government was particularly pleased with the speed with which the installation was prepared. “This is the new speed with which we are advancing infrastructure in Germany,” said the Chancellor.
The truth is that the new dock was built in the record ten months since the political decision to supply Germany with its first LNG maritime terminals. After decades of dependence on Russian gas and oil and three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Scholz announced a radical shift in German energy policy, highlighting, among other things, the commitment to natural gas as a temporary solution. boat. Until the end of next year, three more maritime terminals will be commissioned in Germany, two more in the North Sea and one in the Baltic Sea. The total import capacity will exceed 30,000 million cubic meters of gas.
The one in Wilhelshaven is managed by gas importer Uniper. To operate the terminal, a 26-kilometre gas pipeline had to be built in a few months to reach the national distribution network. The core of the installation is the ship ‘Höegh Esperanza’. Large LNG tankers dock next to you and transfer their cargo to you. The industrial warehouse will be responsible for gasifying the liquefied gas and pumping it into the grid. A terminal for the reception of liquid hydrogen is expected to come into operation in the future. The gasification plant has drawn criticism from environmentalists, who have filed lawsuits to paralyze the terminal for violating its policy to abandon fossil fuels.
“The need to defend itself is an absolute political priority,” said Habeck, also an environmental activist, in light of the current gas shortage caused by the war. The federal government “decided intelligently, reacted decisively and finally achieved something that many thought was impossible midway through the year,” he said, referring to the new plant in Wilhelmshaven. And despite environmental criticism that Germany is creating excess gas capacity and ignoring climate targets, he recalled that the four maritime terminals planned to receive LNG will only cover a third of the country’s consumption.
Habeck’s Ministry of Economics has defended the construction of the four terminals as an interim energy solution to supply problems posed by the end of Russia’s oil and gas supply due to the war in Ukraine and the prospects that many years will elapse before Russia delivering again. raw materials to Germany and Europe. The also federal Vice Chancellor also emphasized that the new LNG terminals are also essential to ensure the supply of gas to other European countries such as Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also Ukraine itself.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
