Brunsbüttel Ports are ‘essential pillar’ for Germany’s energy supply security

Brunsbüttel Ports are poised to play an important role in Germany’s energy supply security and make a significant contribution to achieving climate goals.

The group of ports at Brunsbuttel—Elbehafen, Oilport, and Port of Ostermoor—offer direct access to the North and Baltic seas as well to the European inland waterways.

With the three ports of Brunsbüttel Ports, the location is said to form “an essential pillar for nationwide energy supply security”. This is a task of the highest priority, especially for the Brunsbüttel Elbe port.

At the beginning of the energy crisis, the deep-water Elbe port became the national supply hub for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by providing the necessary infrastructure for the operation of a floating LNG terminal.

In the future, green energy sources are also to be landed via the energy import infrastructure.

Last year, the European Commission (EC) approved a €40 million German support measure for the construction and operation of a new land-based LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel which will replace the FSRU currently operating at the site.

The terminal with an annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters will comprise import, storage, and distribution facilities, and it is planned to start operating by the end of 2026.

What is more, Norwegian ammonia trade and shipping company Yara International opened in early October its new ammonia import terminal in Brunsbüttel, providing the infrastructure to enable imports of up to three million tonnes of low-emission ammonia to Europe annually. This corresponds to 530,000 tonnes of hydrogen or around 5% of the total European hydrogen target for 2030.

Low-emission ammonia is produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity or using carbon capture and storage (CCS) and is seen as a decarbonization product in hard-to-abate sectors. 

Moreover, the Brunsbüttel Elbe port could also play a crucial role as an export hub for CO2 in the course of planned CCS projects and thus make another significant contribution to achieving the climate goals.

Major investments are being made at the site in the context of the industry decarbonization and energy transition. Together, companies have set sail to actively shape the transformation to “the first climate-neutral federal state”.

For this reason, all eyes are this week on Brunsbüttel—the energy hub of national importance—which hosts this year’s Energy Ministers’ Conference (EnMK) from November 6 to 8.

As informed, the focus of the conference in Brunsbüttel is, among other things, the further development of the market and funding framework for renewable energies and the hydrogen economy and the transformation of the industry: The successful conversion of the German industry requires not only green energy but also sufficient connection lines within Europe, to offshore wind farms and to the industrial load centers of the republic. One of the basic prerequisites for this is the further digitization of the energy transition and the gradual conversion of the electricity grid, according to Brunsbüttel ChemCoast Park, Schleswig-Holstein’s largest industrial zone.

“As ChemCoast Park, we are pioneers for green energy in the north. In particular, due to the implementation of many different energy policy projects, including those by well-known chemical companies, it is clear that Brunsbüttel is a beacon of the energy transition,” Frank Schnabel, Spokesman for the Brunsbüttel ChemCoast Park plant managers, commented.

“We are particularly proud to be able to explain this to representatives from other federal states in the coming days. As part of the supporting program, we will be showing live and in color how energy is supplied in the north in Brunsbüttel’s Elbe harbor using the floating LNG terminal and our energy import infrastructure,” he concluded.