In order to guarantee its energy supply independently of Russia, Germany is increasingly focussing on liquefied natural gas. Various technical facilities are required to be able to land this gas. One of the intermediate stations from the large LNG tanker to the gas pipeline on land is the conversion of cryogenic liquefied gas into gaseous service gas at ambient temperature.
German Coast Guard, Potsdam class, BP 83 Bad Düben. Photo: Michael Nitz
Start-up
The "Neptune", the first specialised ship to be converted in Germany, has now arrived off Mukran on the island of Rügen. Coming from Wales, the "Neptune" has spent the past two weeks travelling through the North Sea and Skagerrak into the Baltic Sea. She was accompanied by the coast guard ship "Bamberg" (BP 82, Potsdam class) on the final stretch.
Terminal technology
The "Neptune", which is more than 280 metres long, is an FSRU (Floating Storage and Regasification Unit). As a floating terminal in the industrial harbour of Lubmin, the LNG can be collected, heated and depressurised in a controlled manner on this platform so that it can be safely fed into the land network of the gas pipelines starting at Lubmin in its gaseous state.
Landing
But even at sea, the whole process of landing is not exactly easy to organise: Smaller feeder tankers will shuttle the LNG from a storage ship lying in the roadstead in the Baltic Sea and then transport it through the shallow Greifswald Bodden to the "Neptune" in Lubmin harbour. The storage vessel will in turn be supplied by large LNG tankers.
Dates
According to previous information from Deutsche Regas, the terminal in Lubmin should be ready for operation by 1 December. However, approval is still pending from the responsible state authority, where an objection period has yet to expire.
Coming soon
Further floating terminals are also to be launched this year in Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony and in Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein to enable the import of LNG delivered by ship.
Source: ntv.de, dpa
English 
German
0 Kommentare