The German government signed a five-year deal in Berlin to charter an Excelerate Energy Inc. floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in a move to diversify its gas supply.

Use of the FSRU will “help to provide energy security and supply diversification to Germany while supporting the country’s transition to renewable energy,” Excelerate announced Oct. 25 in a press release.

Under the agreed terms, the FSRU Excelsior will go on charter in the first quarter of 2023 in the Port of Wilhelmshaven. Excelsior has an LNG storage capacity of 138,000 cubic meters and send-out capacity of 5 Bcm annually. The vessel will go to drydock at the end of 2022 for scheduled maintenance prior to its deployment to Germany.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) earlier revealed that a consortium including Tree Energy Solutions, E.ON and Engie would jointly develop and implement usage of an Excelerate FSRU, Germany’s fifth, to import LNG. Use of the FSRU will accelerate the development of TES’ green hydrogen terminal at Wilhelmshaven, Excelerate said.

“FSRUs have the ability to offer flexible access to greater supply diversification and can serve as a complementary backstop for the rapid scaling of green energy projects,” Excelerate President and CEO Steven Kobos said. “These benefits are consistent with the stated goals of the U.S.-EU Task Force on Energy Security.”

The BMWK has chartered five FSRUs which will be available by the winter 2023-2024 as a further component to secure supply in Germany.

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“Altogether, at least 25 Bcm annually will be available in the winter 2023-2024… in addition to the planned capacity of a minimum of 4.5 Bcm annually being made available in the context of the private project in Lubmin. This means that it will be possible to meet around one third of the gas demand (base year: 2021 – 90.5 billion) thanks to the FSRUs,” the BMWK announced Sep. 1 in a statement on its website.

“These floating LNG terminals thus offer the possibility to import LNG to Germany very quickly and thus further reduce the dependency on Russian gas pipeline gas,” the BMWK said.

The first and second FSRUs will be stationed in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel respectively and commissioned at the turn of the year 2022-2023.

The third and fourth FSRUs will be stationed in Stade and Lubmin respectively and commissioned at the end of 2023, while the fifth FRSU will be stationed at the Port of Wilhelmshaven and commissioned in early 2023.

The German government also plans to put into operation by year-end 2022 in Lubmin another private FSRU with a capacity of 4.5 Bcm annually.

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