KN awards contract for Klaipeda FSRU electrification project

Following KN’s international public procurement process for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) works, KN awarded the contract to Lithuania’s Kauno Tiltai, a specialist in roads, bridges, and infrastructure projects.

KN said the contract for the EPC works of the power line connection with the Klaipeda FSRU-based LNG terminal is valued at 19.3 million euros ($21.9 million), excluding VAT.

Under the contract, Kauno Tiltai will design and install the electrical cable necessary for the 170,000-cbm FSRU Independence.

The cable will run through the territory of Klaipėda city and beneath the Curonian Lagoon.

In addition, the required infrastructure will be designed and built at the LNG terminal jetty and on the FSRU itself to enable shore connection, according to KN.

This is a technological solution where a ship moored at the jetty is supplied with electricity from the onshore grid, allowing auxiliary internal combustion engines to be shut down.

Reducing CO2 emissions

According to KN Energies, the FSRU Independence is one of the first LNG terminals in Europe where the above-mentioned technology will be applied in its operations.

Currently, the FSRU operates fully autonomously, generating all its required electricity with the help of four onboard dual-fuel engines. These engines are powered by gas and diesel.

Once the Klaipeda LNG terminal electrification project is completed, the FSRU will be supplied with electricity generated from renewable energy sources. KN said.

Preliminary estimates suggest that this will allow for a reduction of the LNG terminal’s CO₂ emissions by approximately one-third.

At the beginning of April 2025, a subsidy agreement was signed with the Environmental Project Management Agency, under which 6 million euros in funding from the European Union’s Modernisation Fund Program was allocated for the implementation of the project.

KN plans to borrow the remaining amount required for the implementation of the project from commercial banks.

The project is expected to be completed within three years.

In March this year, the FSRU completed its 500th ship-to-ship LNG transfer in Klaipeda since the start of operations in 2014.

The majority of LNG volumes originated from Norway (52 percent) and the United States (37 percent), but the Klaipeda FSRU-based facility has also received LNG from Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Egypt, Algeria, and others.

Last December, KN Energies assumed ownership of the FSRU Independence from Hoegh Evi, and the unit was registered under the Lithuanian flag.