The planning and design of floating liquid natural gas terminals in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven continues to progress. On September 1st, 2022, German economic minister Robert Habeck announced that in addition to the so far four planned government-chartered specialized ships, a fifth floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) is being rented. This fifth FSRU is scheduled to go into operation the fourth quarter of 2023 and will also be conceived for the onshoring of green hydrogen.

Habeck stated: “All these projects we are building are hydrogen-ready and so are suitable for the future, the pipelines and the terminals that are to be built. For the future where we bring hydrogen to Germany so that we’re thinking about a new infrastructure at the same time as a detachment from the fossil age.”

The H₂ company Tree Energy Solutions GmbH (TES), founded in October 2021 and based in Wilhelmshaven, expects that the FSRU will be able to import green hydrogen already during the first twelve months of operation. The stated goal of the German ministry for economics and climate protection is to operate the LNG-FSRU “at the Wilhelmshaven location only for the time until the H₂ terminal for green fuel gas is put into operation”– presumably by 2025.