Rügen LNG terminal: Environmental aid complains about federal government

Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has complained to the Federal Court of Auditors about the German government in connection with the construction of new LNG terminals. The costs for the expansion of LNG are disproportionate to the actual quantities of gas fed into the grid, according to previously unpublished figures from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWK).

The DUH highlights the Lubmin/Mukran project on the island of Rügen: "The Ministry of Economics estimates that 865 million euros from public funds will be used to expand the infrastructure, plus a federal guarantee of 1.878 billion euros," according to a DUH statement. This compares to a gas feed-in of 1.3 billion cubic meters, which is 1.5 percent of the total annual gas demand in Germany.

The DUH has therefore complained to the Federal Audit Office about the inefficient and untargeted use of funds. The environmental and consumer protection organization is calling for the LNG expansion to be stopped immediately and the LNG project on Rügen to be cancelled. The budget funds should be reallocated to renewable energies and building refurbishment.

"Terminals important for resilience"

When asked by heise online, the BMWK emphasized that it had to guarantee security of supply. "The terminals are essential for the resilience of the German and European gas supply in the short and medium term, as they prevent supply bottlenecks when demand increases and enable energy supplies to be diversified," explained a spokesperson for the ministry. After the unilateral halt to gas supplies from Russia, it became clear how dangerous a one-sided dependency could be for Germany.

With the terminals, the government is setting the initial course for converting the methane infrastructure to hydrogen, its derivatives or other green gases in the future. In the long term, the LNG infrastructure will be used to land hydrogen, including its derivatives, and potentially also for handling CO₂. A demand of 95 to 130 TWh of hydrogen and its derivatives is expected by 2030 and 360 to 500 TWh by 2045. "In order to achieve these quantities, the majority of hydrogen must be imported via pipelines and ship transportation," the BMWK stated.

"186 million euros in total expenditure"

The statement that "the Ministry of Economic Affairs estimates 865 million euros from public funds for the expansion of the infrastructure, plus a federal guarantee of 1.878 billion euros" is misleading. It was singled out and presented without context. This sum relates to the general gross costs for the Mukran site on the Baltic Sea.

According to the BMWK, the total expenditure probably amounts to around 186 million euros if the income is taken into account. The federal government has promised the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern subsidies totaling around 36 million euros for the Mukran port site. Added to this are expenses for the purchase of the Nord Stream 2 pipes and for the abandoned Sellin site. This would be offset by income from the sale of the Nord Stream 2 pipes and parts of the original federal project to build the pipeline to Gascade, as well as from Energos Power's sub-charter to Dt. Regas, which has been running since October and to which the charter rate to be paid by the federal government will be passed on in full.

It is also "extremely unlikely" that the federal guarantees mentioned by DUH will be claimed for the construction of the Mukran-Lubmin pipeline. For the pipeline, for example, the secured project termination costs can no longer be incurred since it was completed and approved.

(anw)