In the Netherlands, balancing energy security against climate concerns
Two enormous vessels tethered to a pier in the Eemshaven harbor in the Netherlands form the centrepiece of this country’s riposte to Russia’s throttling energy supplies to Europe.
On a blustery fall day, the Gaslog Georgetown, at nearly 1,000 feet (305m) long, was pumping liquefied natural gas brought from the US Gulf Coast into a ship designed to receive the chilled fuel and send it into pipelines onshore.
These cargoes of LNG, which started arriving in mid-September, are bringing massive transfusions of natural gas not only to the Netherlands but also farther on to other energy-hungry European countries, including Germany and the Czech Republic.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the energy authorities in the Netherlands understood that Europe faced a dire threat, but also that their country, with its central location and extensive pipeline links, could help prevent the continent from shuddering in the cold this winter.
“We realized that the Netherlands is again very important for Europe,” said Ulco Vermeulen, a board member and executive at Gasunie, the state-controlled energy infrastructure company. “We can load supplies and bring them to destinations in Europe.”
But in a country where environmental concerns are a high priority, the growing reliance on LNG has created unease.
Home to one of the world’s largest natural gas fields, the Netherlands is now dotted with clean energy initiatives, testament to the European Union’s goal to be a net-zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050.
A court in The Hague last year ordered Shell, one of the country’s largest companies before it moved to London, to speed up its reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by curbing production and sales of oil and gas.
Dutch environmental groups are skeptical about letting energy companies like Shell, which has contracted to purchase some of the LNG coming into Eemshaven, use new sources of natural gas, even for a few years in an emergency.
They say the investment in the infrastructure around the terminals, amounting to billions of euros, may lead to a steady stream of LNG imports well after the energy crisis has passed.
Compressing into months what might normally have been years of negotiations, regulatory approvals and construction, Vermeulen, port officials and other executives cobbled together the pipelines, piers and other infrastructure necessary to import liquefied natural gas to guard against a cutoff from Russia.
The facility has two floating LNG terminals, leased vessels bristling with equipment for turning the chilled liquid delivered by oceangoing tankers back into a vapor and sending it into the European grid.
Russia has now severely cut back pipeline gas flows to Europe, but Vermeulen says the Netherlands will probably have enough resources to get through the winter, when natural gas consumption usually soars. He worries, though, that pipeline bottlenecks may make it difficult to supply parts of Europe.
The Netherlands has also put in place other emergency measures, including allowing coal-fired power plants to ramp up.