IT’S A START

Stade industrial park as well as the construction of the terminal. FCC can draw on extensive experience in the construction of liquid gas tanks – it has built and commissioned eight LNG storage plants in Spain alone. The final part of the consortium, Turkey-based Entrade, will be responsible for the electromechanical assembly.

“Our choice of EPC partners is based on many years of experience in the construction of complex infrastructure projects and comprehensive technical expertise in LNG, green gases and hydrogen,” explains Johann Killinger, managing director and coshareholder of HEH.

WHEN THE FIRST piles were driven this past January at the new jetty in Stade in northern Germany, it marked not just the first physical construction of one of five floating LNG import terminals, fast-tracked to ease Germany’s reliance on Russian natural gas, but also a first step on the road to a “future-flexible” modular terminal to help bring about the energy transition.

The Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH) in Stade has been set up by the Buss Group, Fluxys, the Partners Group and Dow. While the floating storage and regasification unit Transgas Force is due to arrive at the new jetty before the end of this year, it will be replaced from early 2027 by a land-based, zeroemission terminal that will help secure Germany’s supply of conventional LNG, bio-LNG and synthetic natural gas (SNG). More than that, though, the onshore terminal, port, industrial park and connection infrastructure are designed in such a way that the conversion to hydrogen-based energy carriers can take place in a modular way.

By April, HEH was in a position to commission a consortium led by Madrid-based Técnicas Reunidas to develop the land-based terminal for liquefied gases, subject to HEH’s final investment decision, expected within the next few months. Assuming the planned work goes ahead, Técnicas Reunidas will take over the planning and management of the construction phase and will undertake all the equipment and materials supply work for the project. The FCC Group, also from Spain, will carry out all the site preparation work at the

Eager For Capacity

One of the first customers for the new LNG capacity is Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW), a major energy supplier in Germany, which has contracted to import 3bn m3 of natural gas via HEH from its start-up. In addition, it has the option of moving to ammonia as a hydrogen-based energy source at a later date.

“At EnBW, we are working intensively on the transition from fossil fuels such as coal to non-fossil fuels such as hydrogen. The cooperation with the Hanseatic Energy Hub fits very well into our efforts to become climate-neutral by 2035,” explains Georg Stamatelopoulos, COO of Sustainable Generation Infrastructure at EnBW. “Initially, we will ensure security of supply with the help of LNG imports from the terminal in Stade, and in the long term we will be able to substitute natural gas with climate-neutral green hydrogen.” www.hanseatic-energy-hub.de

Both EnBW and HEH are focusing on ammonia as a carrier for hydrogen, since its handling, transport and storage have been proven over many years. Ammonia is one of the most widely produced chemicals in the world and has many different applications. After transport, it can be reconverted to hydrogen or used directly as a CO2-neutral fuel. Corresponding technologies are making rapid progress. Co-combustion of up to 20 per cent ammonia has already been successfully implemented in smaller power plants and furnaces.

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