Posts Tagged ‘Germany’
Lithuania, Latvia and Germany plan an offshore electricity interconnector
On 9 April, Minister of Energy Žygimantas Vaičiūnas attended the annual conference of the European Wind Energy Association, Wind Europe 2025, in Copenhagen (Denmark).
During the conference, Minister of Energy Mr Vaičiūnas met with Kaspars Melnis, Minister for Climate and Energy of the Republic of Latvia, and Volker Oschmann, Director General for Electricity at the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and together they presented the planned project of an offshore electricity interconnector between the Baltic States and Germany.
Read full announcement (external link)
Originally published on 9 Apr
Read MoreNet Group expands into Germany by acquiring cybersecurity company
Net Group, an Estonian business and software development company, has expanded into Germany by acquiring Cloud Ahoi GmbH, a technology company specializing in comprehensive cybersecurity solutions for both private and public sector clients.
“The transaction is significant because on the one hand we are increasing our capabilities in providing cybersecurity services, and on the other hand Germany is Estonia’s largest export market. This gives us a unique opportunity to export valuable knowledge from Estonia to Germany for both the private and public sectors,” stated Priit Kongo, CEO of Net Group.
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Originally published on 8 Apr
Read MoreGerman gambit Seizing Russia’s shadow fleet
German customs authorities have confiscated the Eventin, a tanker linked to the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet”, along with its cargo of approximately 100,000 tons of crude oil. The ship was impounded in January and its seizure comes after the EU placed it on its sanctions list.
The seizure is a notable escalation in the enforcement of sanctions against Moscow’s attempts to get around restrictions on its oil trade. The “shadow fleet” of vessels flying flags other than the Russian is used to transport oil. It emerged shortly after Moscow’s unprovoked 2022 attack on Ukraine in response to Western sanctions against the Russian oil industry.
Recently the fleet’s role in wreaking havoc on subsea infrastructure has been getting a lot of attention. Environmentalists, for their part, fret that the ships are an oil spill waiting to happen; they are old, poorly kept and lack proper insurance. The Eventin was found floating adrift in January off the island of Rügen.
Germany’s seizure sends a message to Moscow and its cronies who help it to bypass sanctions. But Berlin must now carefully consider its next move: the confiscation order means that the vessel and its cargo now belong to the German state. Other countries in the Baltic will be keeping a close eye on what it does—and how the Kremlin reacts—to keep the shadow fleet in check.
Read MoreNo time at the present Bornholm’s green industry estate on stand-by
Bornholm should table its proposed industry estate until Copenhagen decides whether it will go ahead with its plans to build the converter station for two off-shore wind farms that would power the facility, an island council committee says.
A vote will be put before the full council later this month, but Jacob Trøst, the mayor, believes the national government’s decision in January to wait until after the German federal election to make its final decision makes proceeding impractical.
It is hoped that Germany will purchase the majority of the 3 megawatts of electricity the wind farms would produce. The rest is expected to be sent to eastern Denmark, but Bornholm would like some of it to be used to power an industry estate that would act as a crucible for energy start-ups.
Island businesses want work on the industry estate to continue. Questions like where it would be placed and when it would come on-line may be unanswerable at the moment, but, argues Michael Almeborg, the chair of the local chapter of DI, that should not stop the council from lining up the firms who will want to hear the answers when the council finally has them.
Read MoreNord Stream 2 revival met with Baltic chill
Germany and its Baltic allies have flatly rejected suggestions that delivery of Russian gas via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline may resume. Rumours that such a plan are afoot emerged on Sunday, when the Financial Times, a news outlet, reported that a former boss of Gazprom, the Russian firm that operated the pipeline, was working to revive the €11 billion project.
To its boosters, the pipeline running along the floor of the Baltic Sea was a sign that Russia was securely tethered to Europe and the west. Its detractors, both those who remained unconvinced that Moscow was indeed an ally, as well as greens agitating for lower, greener energy consumption, were never sold on the first Nord Stream, let alone its sequel.
But when both were damaged by sabotage in September 2022 (by whom remains unknown), European countries, and Germany in particular, rushed to break their energy ties to Russia: today, Norway is Germany’s primary gas supplier, and, on 8 February, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania broke a power connection to Russia that dates back to the Soviet Union when they connected themselves to the EU grid.
Nothing suggests anyone is interested going back. “Independence from Russian gas is of strategic importance,” the German economy ministry insisted in its denial that Berlin was talking to Moscow about re-opening Nord Stream 2. With Europeans now looking to secure their future, it would appear that the era of Russian gas has passed.
Read MoreANDRITZ to engineer another 100 MW green hydrogen plant for Germany
GRAZ, MARCH 3, 2025. International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order for the authority engineering of a 100 MW green hydrogen plant in Rostock, Germany. The order was placed by REPCO (rostock EnergyPort cooperation GmbH), a joint venture of RWE Generation SE, EnBW Neue Energien GmbH, RheinEnergie AG and Rostock Port GmbH. Subject to the investment decision planned for mid-2025, REPCO intends to give ANDRITZ the notice to proceed with the supply of the plant. It will be one of the first plants in Germany to supply the German “Hydrogen Core Network” and the future European Hydrogen Backbone infrastructure, thus representing a key step in advancing Europe’s green energy transition.
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Originally published on 4 Mar
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