{"id":31007,"date":"2023-06-08t21:15:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-08t21:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/?p=31007"},"modified":"2023-06-12t14:13:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12t14:13:17","slug":"germany-lng-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/germany-lng-future\/","title":{"rendered":"does liquefied natural gas have a green future in germany? leaders and experts offer differing outlooks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
wilhelmshaven, germany\u2014in the steel-gray north sea waters of the port of wilhelmshaven floats an impressively long tanker, the german government\u2019s answer to the nation\u2019s energy crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n the h\u00f6egh esperanza, sprawling the length of three football fields, is what\u2019s known as a floating storage and regasification unit, or fsru. it\u2019s a modified tanker ship that sails to different countries where it converts liquefied natural gas, or lng, from transport ships back into a gaseous state. this gas can then be injected into natural gas pipelines. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n in an effort to get by without russian pipeline gas, cut off after russia\u2019s invasion of ukraine, germany is turning to lng imported from countries like the united states. to some climate advocates, however, this amounts to investing in fossil fuel infrastructure when germany is trying to move toward a carbon-free future. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n the worry is that this could further bind germany to fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change. europe\u2019s largest energy consumer, germany has made a commitment to becoming greenhouse gas neutral by 2045.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n german leaders have promised that the new infrastructure will eventually be used to import hydrogen fuel, which does not emit greenhouse gasses, as part of a transition to a decarbonized energy sector. but some clean energy experts question the feasibility of such a conversion.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n germany plans to rent at least six floating terminals. the esperanza, the first, arrived in wilhelmshaven in december. the german government has leased it for 10 years, according to a statement from h\u00f6egh lng, the company that owns the ship.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201ctoday we are making a very important step towards energy security in germany,\u201d robert habeck, the german vice chancellor and minister for economic affairs and climate action, declared when the esperanza arrived. \u201cthis shows how much germany can get done within only a few months when it is necessary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n the leased terminals can sail elsewhere once they are no longer needed. the crux of concern is that germany also plans to build several permanent onshore lng terminals. these could become prematurely obsolete if germany stops using them in favor of renewable energy, said rainer quitzow, a political scientist at the research institute for sustainability in potsdam. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n the alternative, he said, is that \u201cthe powers that be put so much pressure on the government that rather than creating a stranded asset and devaluing that asset for the owners, they just continue using it [to process lng] anyway,\u201d quitzow said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n if that happens, he warned, it could cause germany to remain dependent on fossil fuel longer than planned, in a so-called \u201clock in\u201d effect.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n katharina grave, a spokeswoman for germany\u2019s ministry for economic affairs and climate action, said the permanent terminals are necessary because the government believes the floating terminals alone will not make up for the cutoff of russian gas.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cthere are not endless amounts of them, and they are quite expensive to hire,\u201d grave said. \u201cso for the future, those fsru ships will be step by step replaced by lng ships that feed into fixed terminals, and then these terminals will also be used to get hydrogen into the system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n hydrogen fuel can be used to store and transport energy. there are multiple ways of producing it, including by partially combusting fossil fuels. but under germany\u2019s <\/span>national hydrogen strategy<\/span><\/a>, adopted in 2020, the government regards only \u201cgreen hydrogen,\u201d generated with renewable energy, to be sustainable in the long term. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n green hydrogen is created by using renewably generated electricity to split water molecules in a process known as electrolysis. this hydrogen can then be combined with oxygen in a fuel cell to generate electricity, which produces only harmless water vapor as a byproduct. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n germany ultimately plans to use hydrogen to power industries that are otherwise difficult to decarbonize, including shipping, aviation and emission-intensive industrial processes. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201chydrogen is such a precious thing,\u201d said franziska m\u00fcller, a professor of political science at the university of hamburg who studies the social and environmental risks of hydrogen production. \u201cin germany, it\u2019s sometimes called the champagne of the energy transition because it\u2019s so difficult to produce, and so expensive also.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n the authors of the national hydrogen strategy note that germany will likely have to import much of the hydrogen it will need from abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n grave said the permanent lng terminals would be constructed to be \u201chydrogen ready,\u201d but when asked what percentage of the facilities\u2019 components would need to be adjusted, she said she was unsure. she did not give a target date for the switch to hydrogen, saying that germany was still working on that part of its strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\ngerman leaders say new lng terminals will be used to bring in green hydrogen<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n