Grid Operator News

Finland's national power grid operator said on Thursday it had asked a Helsinki court to seize the Eagle S oil tanker in a bid to secure the company's claim for damages related to the breakdown of the undersea Estlink 2 electricity interconnector.The cable between Finland and Estonia was damaged on Dec. 25 along with four telecoms lines, and Finnish authorities the next day boarded the tanker, which carries Russian oil, on suspicion that it caused the damage by dragging its anchor along the seabed.Baltic Sea nations are on high alert after a string of outages of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

RWE and TotalEnergies have selected the port of Eemshaven in the northern Dutch province of Groningen as the base for turbine assembly and construction work for their joint offshore wind project OranjeWind in the Dutch North Sea.The OranjeWind joint venture has signed an agreement with Buss Terminal Eemshaven, with the pre-assembly and offshore construction of turbines to be carried out in 2027.Construction activities at the offshore wind site will start in early 2026. Buss Terminal Eemshaven will facilitate the offloading…

Germany is expanding its natural gas import options to replace Russian supply. Following are updates on key facilities and terminals being developed to host floating storage regasification units (FSRUs) to receive seaborne liquefied natural gas (LNG). Plans also include shore-based regasification terminals and facilities to import and produce ammonia and hydrogen.STADEState-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) has said in German media reports that FSRUs at both Stade and Wilhelmshaven 2 will start operations before the winter, without specifying precise commissioning dates.

A power outage in the Rotterdam port area in the Netherlands briefly interrupted operations at one of Europe's biggest oil refineries on Tuesday, the plant's operator BP said.Electricity grid operator TenneT said the problem was solved shortly after 1000 GMT.

Russia launched 20 drones and five missiles at Ukraine on Wednesday, killing two people in the Black Sea region of Odesa, damaging port infrastructure and hitting an energy facility in the northwest, officials said.A truck driver and security guard were killed in the southern Odesa region during the missile attack, which damaged port warehouses, trucks and a civilian ship, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. A sailor was also wounded, he said.Odesa region is the central hub for…

The construction of Germany's first land-based liquefied national gas (LNG) terminal at the inland port of Stade kicked off on Friday with the goal of starting operation in 2027, said the project firm Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH).The project on the river Elbe is part of Germany's broader efforts to diversify its energy sources after a sudden drop of Russian gas imports following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.The terminal will include two LNG tanks with capacity of 240,000 cubic metres each and will be ammonia-ready as Germany and its neighbours aim to replace gas with green hydrogen and its deriv

Boskalis’ cable-laying barge Giant 7 has started the installation of the second and final nearshore export cable for the 700 MW offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust (west Beta), being built offshore the Netherlands.The works on the second cable follow the successful installation of the first, also performed by Boskalis’ Giant 7 barge.Giant 7, with the help of the specialist burial sledge tool BSSIII, will repeat the same operation to bring and connect the second cable to the shore.The two 220kV AC export cables are needed to connect the offshore wind farm to the onshore power grid…

New Jersey officials said the state will receive $125 million from a legal settlement with Denmark's Orsted ORSTED.CO over the company's cancellation last year of two offshore wind farm projects.The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said in a statement that the funds will be used for investments in wind component manufacturing facilities and wind farms.The settlement comes nearly seven months after Orsted said it would stop developing the Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects off the coast of New Jersey as it struggled with soaring costs and supply chain delays.The cancellations triggered an angry re

Con Edison Transmission and National Grid Ventures submitted a plan to carry offshore wind power to New Jersey's electric grid as the state aims to meet renewable energy goals, according to a press release on Thursday.If awarded, the 'Garden State Energy Path' proposal involves building transmission infrastructure that would be operational by early 2029 and deliver about six gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power, Con Edison said."This project is foundational to helping New Jersey reach its goal of 11 GW of offshore wind by 2040," it said.Earlier this week, California’s grid operator recommende

Energy storage group VTTI will get a 70% stake in Italy's biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, with grid operator Snam owning the rest, the Milan-listed group said on Wednesday, announcing a deal to be finalised by year-end.Snam, which is controlled by the Italian government, said in a statement it had exercised its pre-emption right to increase its stake in the infrastructure dubbed Adriatic LNG to 30% from 7.3%.The move comes after ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy last week agreed to sell their stakes in the terminal to a consortium led by Dutch group VTTI.

German utility RWE on Jan. 1 handed over floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure at Brunsbuettel on the North Sea to state-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) as agreed when first imports arrived 10 months ago, it said.DET is now the sole operational manager and markets the capacity of the Brunsbuettel Elbehafen LNG project.Germany's quest to increase LNG capacity for regasification on its shores has intensified as it seeks to end reliance on Russian pipeline gas…

Scandlines has contracted Norwegian Electric Systems (NES) to deliver an onshore charging system to the ferry operator’s berth in Puttgarden, Germany.NES will deliver the system and connect the equipment to the power grid of the regional grid operator, Schleswig-Holstein Netz. The required components onshore include a 30MVA grid transformer, medium and low voltage transformers, and switchboards, in addition to control system and data collection system. NES will also deliver additional equipment to the ferry.Scandlines’ new zero direct emissions ferry…

How the Maximum Contingency of 2,200 MW Was Recast to a 1,200 MW CeilingAs policy makers and energy developers look to develop and interconnect large offshore wind projects in the most economically efficient and least environmentally impactful way, an issue has developed. A relatively recent limit, set in place by the grid operator in New England in a planning process document, states that no single system loss of energy, or “contingency”, can be larger than 1,200 megawatts (MW). This 2016 addition to ISO New England’s (ISO-NE) Planning Procedure No.

Snam has finalized the 400 million euro acquisition of a new floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal that will be located offshore from the city of Ravenna, the Italian gas grid operator said on Monday.The new ship dubbed BW Singapore has a storage capacity of about 170,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas and a regasification capacity of about 5 billion cubic meters per year and will help Italy to diversify its energy supplies.The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) is expected to start operations in 2025.That will follow the conclusion of the related permitting and reg

Italian gas grid operator Snam will invest 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in a new LNG offshore terminal near Ravenna, the company's CEO said on Tuesday.The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) will add to another LNG terminal already set up in Tuscany, increasing Italy's gas import capacity and reducing dependence from its traditional suppliers, including Russia."To increase energy security for Italy we decided last year, together with the government, to increase the country's LNG import capacity in order to have more flexibility and diversify energy supplies…

Exxon Mobil Corp chose BlackRock as the potential buyer for its majority stake in Italy's main liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, the U.S. oil producer said in a statement.The stake sale drew interest from infrastructure funds and international groups as Italy is expected to increase its LNG imports to partly replace the gas it used to get via pipeline from Russia.In March, Exxon said it was considering selling its 70.68% interest in the offshore Adriatic LNG Terminal…

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel moored in the Tuscan port of Piombino will be moved off the coast of Vado Ligure and Savona in Italy's northwestern region of Liguria, the president of Liguria said on Tuesday.Italian gas grid operator Snam bought the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) last year as part of the Italian government's plan to reduce dependence on Russian gas, but the infrastructure was opposed by the local administration in Piombino.The decision on the proposed site was made after Liguria President Giovanni Toti met Snam's chief executive, a spokesperson for the Liguria president said. The decision on the…

Four international groups are competing to buy Exxon Mobil Corp's majority stake in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal offshore Italy, two sources familiar with the matter said. The deal could value the entire LNG terminal at around 800 million euros ($881 million), the sources said. Exxon said in March it was considering selling its majority stake in Adriatic LNG, Italy's main regasification terminal, as part of a wider strategy to divest non-core assets. The U.S. group is being advised by Rothschild & Co. on the process.

The new floating terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) set up in the Tuscan port of Piombino will start its commercial operations at the end of this month, the CEO of Italy's gas grid operator Snam said on Friday.The terminal will make available around 2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas this year and around 5 bcm next year said Snam's Stefano Venier at a press conference to mark the arrival of the first LNG tanker in Piombino."This ship is a great service to the country," Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said at the same event.The expansion is part of the Italian government's

Exxon Mobil Corp is considering selling its majority stake in Italy's main regasification terminal as part of a wider strategy to divest from non-core assets, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The Rovigo liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal is owned by Exxon's subsidiary ExxonMobil Italiana Gas (70.7%), QatarEnergy subsidiary Qatar Terminal Company Limited (22%) and Snam Spa SRG.MI (7.3%). Snam, an Italian gas grid operator, has the first right of refusal should a partner decide to divest.

The Italian trade union USB filed a legal complaint against a plan by gas grid operator Snam to set up a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Tuscan port of Piombino, it said in a press release on Friday.USB alleged Snam had committed serious "environmental crimes" while performing works to build the terminal.USB criticised in the statement the choice to set up the terminal in an area already polluted by an old steel plant, saying regasification processes would increase…

The number of ships loading liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Spain and taking it across Europe doubled in 2022 compared with the previous year, helping ease the energy crisis driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, gas grid operator Enagas said on Thursday."Our plants are contributing very significantly to the energy security of other countries and from the Barcelona plant, especially for Italy," Enagas chief executive Arturo Gonzalo Aizpiri told reporters, adding that a total of…

Germany boosted its offshore wind power capacity by 357 megawatts (MW) to 7,036 MW last year, inching towards a planned 30,000 MW by 2030, power grid operator TenneT said.The German arm of the Dutch transmission group will play a key role in achieving the target, linking the majority of new wind farms to onshore high-voltage transmission grids, with a commitment to provide six 2,000 MW links by 2031.