December 14, 2023 [Hanseatic Energy Hub]- Four years after it began, Hanseatic Energy Hub GmbH has successfully completed its permitting and marketing phase for the onshore zero-emission terminal in the Hamburg metropolitan region. The shareholders are now preparing the final investment decision, which is expected the coming weeks. From 2027, LNG and green energy sources such as Bio-LNG and Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) will be handled in Stade.
The Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH) is the first land-based terminal in Germany to be approved as being ammonia-ready in accordance with Germany’s LNG Acceleration Act. Operations in Stade are to be converted from LNG to ammonia as a hydrogen-based energy source by 31 December 2043 at the latest. The technical concept was confirmed by the Federal Institute for Materials Testing (BAM) as part of the official permitting procedure in accordance with the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG).
“For me as a shareholder, it was clear from the outset that our terminal had to be future-flexible and therefore ammonia-ready. Both technically and commercially. We have now set the course for this. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the authorities, politicians and partners who have made a significant contribution to ensuring that we have now reached the finishing line in Stade and will soon be able to take the final investment decision,” says Johann Killinger, initiator, co-shareholder and managing director of the Hanseatic Energy Hub. “With this terminal, we will make an important contribution to securing Europe’s energy supplies over the coming decades. Initially with LNG, Bio-LNG and synthetic gases. And later with hydrogen in the form of ammonia.”
The jetty and associated superstructure, which will be completed in the coming days by the Lower Saxony seaport company NPorts, are designed to be convertible on a modular basis to hydrogen-derived energy sources similar to the building block approach used in power and energy systems. The new LNG jetty is 650 meters long and is located to the south of an existing harbour. In the coming days NPorts will officially hand over the jetty to the state of Lower Saxony. Its construction was accelerated to allow an FSRU chartered by the German government to temporarily dock at Stade. The FSRU will be operated by Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH (DET) on behalf of the German government and, according to DET, is scheduled to dock in Stade in February. The FSRU will leave Stade once the onshore terminal becomes operational.
Parallel to the permitting, HEH has also completed the commercial marketing of Germany’s largest terminal project. With EnBW, SEFE and the Czech company ČEZ, three major energy suppliers will use Stade as an energy hub from 2027, thus jointly contributing to securing European energy supplies. All long-term bookings include the option to switch to ammonia. The zero-emission terminal will have a total capacity of 13.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. Of this, 1.3 billion cubic meters will be made available to the spot market in accordance with regulatory requirements.
In spring 2023 HEH had, subject to the final investment decision, commissioned an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) consortium. The consortium is led by the global specialist Técnicas Reunidas S.A.. The Madrid-based company has designed and managed the construction of more than 1,000 infrastructure and industrial facilities worldwide. These include numerous projects along the LNG and hydrogen value chains. Técnicas Reunidas will be responsible for the engineering and for managing the construction phase as well as the procurement of equipment and materials. The Spanish FCC Group is to carry out site-preparation and construction work in the Stade Industrial Park. FCC has extensive experience in constructing liquid gas tanks having built and commissioned eight LNG storage facilities in Spain. Entrade GmbH, a subsidiary of the Turkish ENKA Group will provide the electromechanical assembly. The engineering and construction company is already active in the Stade area.
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