Germany’s E.ON, Belgium-based Tree Energy Solutions (TES), and a unit of France’s Engie will deploy an FSRU chartered from US player Excelerate Energy in Wilhelmshaven in 2023.
German Economy and Climate Change Minister, Robert Habeck, announced Germany’s fifth FSRU on Thursday along with Marco Alvera, CEO of TES, Gabriel Clemens, CEO of E.ON Green Gas-Einheit, and Manfred Schmitz, CEO of Engie Deutschland.
LNG Prime reported on this FSRU development on June 1.
The three firms have been selected by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) to develop and implement the FSRU project, according to a joint statement.
The fifth FSRU-based import terminal in Germany, which is planning to start in the beginning of the heating period 2023, will have an annual importing capacity of about 5 bcm.
TES, backed by investment firm AtlasInvest, is developing a hydrogen and LNG import hub in Wilhelmshaven.
In June, it said that about 25 parties have shown interest in booking capacity at the planned hub following a non-binding expression of interest.
Before revealing this FSRU project, TES and E.ON signed a deal in March to import green hydrogen into Germany via the planned Wilhelmshaven hub.
TES aims to integrate the import of green molecules within the first 12 months that the FSRU is in operation.
Another Excelerate’s FSRU in Europe
According to the statement, Engie is responsible for chartering of the FSRU on behalf of the BMWK, for part of its LNG supply, and with TES for the development and the operation of the FSRU.
The five-year-chartered FSRU will be provided by Excelerate Energy, following negotiations led by Engie.
The partners did not reveal any additional details regarding the FSRU.
It will be stationed in Wilhelmshaven, where TES already owns 145 hectares of land and has been developing the hydrogen terminal since 2019 to start large-scale imports by 2025.
The FSRU import terminal would allow a “seamless transition to green imports over the first period as the green terminal starts operation,” the statement said.
This is the second FSRU Excelerate chartered to European firms this year.
Excelerate’s 150,900-cbm FSRU Exemplar is already on its way to Europe where it should start serving Finland, Estonia, under a 10-year charter deal with Gasgrid later this year.
The US FSRU owner said in a separate statement it signed a term sheet with Engie for the deployment of an FSRU that would provide “flexible and secure LNG regasification capacity for Germany as it continues to seek alternatives to Russian pipeline gas supply.”
Under the proposed agreement, Excelerate would deploy an FSRU from its integrated fleet to provide regasification services for a period of five years, it said.
Germany to become big LNG importer
Germany currently has no regasification facilities but the country is fast-tracking LNG imports to reduce reliance on Russian gas and boost energy security.
RWE and Uniper previously chartered four FSRUs on behalf of the German government.
These vessels include the two units RWE chartered from Hoegh LNG, and the Dynagas-owned 174,000-cbm Transgas Force and Transgas Power that will go on charter to Uniper.
Uniper has already started building Germany’s first FSRU-based LNG facility in Wilhelmshaven and expects to commission it this winter, while Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie said it expects the Brunsbuettel FSRU-based LNG import terminal to go online by the end of this year.
Besides these two terminals, Germany has also chosen Stade and Lubmin as the next two locations to install the chartered units.
In addtion to these five projects, Deutsche ReGas is also working on a FSRU-based terminal in Lubmin and recently submitted an application to Germany’s Federal Network Agency for an exemption from regulation.
This means Germany could have at least six FSRU-based terminals in operation by the end of 2023.