In this file photo taken on September 29, 2022 A man works at the construction site of the Uniper Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at the Jade Bight in Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea coast, northwestern Germany on September 29, 2022. - (Photo by FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP)
FRANKFURT: Chancellor Olaf Scholz has opened Germany’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the northern town of Wilhelmshaven, as the nation hurriedly switches to alternative energy sources to replace Russian gas.
Its construction, in the record time of just under 10 months, showed that Germany “is capable of new beginnings and speed,” Scholz said at the inauguration ceremony on Germany’s North Sea coast.
He thanked workers, engineers, companies and authorities for the rapid realisation of the industrial facility, calling the terminal a “very, very important contribution” to Germany’s security.
By building an infrastructure for LNG terminals, Germany is also taking responsibility for European neighbours without coasts, Scholz said. “This LNG terminal is thus also a symbol of European solidarity.”
He was flanked by Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Green party, Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats and Lower Saxony’s state Premier Stephan Weil of the Social Democrats, representing the three parties in the governing coalition.
Weil, who leads the German state in which Wilhelmshaven is located, called the opening of the LNG terminal an “encouraging sign” at the end of a difficult year.
A year ago, anyone who said that Germany would become “independent of Russian natural gas in no time” would have been laughed at, added Weil.
The floating terminal off the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony is intended to help close the gap in Germany’s gas supply caused by a lack of supplies from Russia.
The centrepiece of the terminal is the almost 300-metre-long special ship Höegh Esperanza, which in future will convert the LNG delivered by tankers back into its gaseous state and feed it into the German gas grid. — dpa
