Our customers need to get their gas punctually in the ordered quantity and the desired quality at all times. To make sure they do, we keep our infrastructure fully up to date. This includes not only our 12,000-km pipeline network but also our compressor stations.
We are planning to expand our supra-regional gas transmission system to include a new high-capacity pipeline from Heiden to Dorsten.
The approx. 18.5 km long pipeline will run from the Heiden-Marbeck station on the ZEELINK pipeline, which is currently under construction, to the existing junction in Hervest-Dorsten. The pipeline has been designed with a diameter of DN 500, one section being DN 600, and a design pressure of 100 bar.
The public hearing, which is part of the planning permission procedure, was held in Heiden in August 2020. The district government of Münster is currently preparing the minutes of the hearing, weighing up the objections raised against the construction project, and will then prepare the planning decision as a public law document. The decision is expected around the beginning of 2021.
The planned pipeline will provide a link to the ZEELINK pipeline and help to ensure security of supply in the region.
We are planning to expand our supra-regional gas transmission system to include a new high-capacity pipeline from Voigtslach to Paffrath. The almost 24-kilometer-long pipeline will have a diameter of DN 900 and a wall thickness of 12.9 mm and be designed for an operating pressure of up to 70 bar. Construction is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2021 and will be completed by the end of 2022.
The Nordrheinische Erdgastransportgesellschaft mbh & Co. KG (NETG) is the operator of the pipeline of the same name extending from Elten on the Dutch border to Bergisch Gladbach.
Its owners are Essen-based Open Grid Europe GmbH (OGE) and Dortmund-based Thyssengas GmbH who hold 50% each.
This new link will allow the urgent conversion of the regional and municipal gas grids from low-calorific (L-gas) to high-calorific natural gas (H-gas) in Leverkusen, Cologne and the surrounding communities from the first quarter of 2023. The construction project serves to secure supplies to residential consumers and industry.
The new Rimpar compressor station (Bavaria) will be built in the immediate vicinity of the existing Rimpar compressor station to compress gas primarily from MEGAL I & II. In addition, it will be used to compress volumes to be shipped to or from the north. It will connect pipeline nos. 51 (MEGAL I) and 451 (MEGAL II), as well as pipeline nos. 55 (OGE), 455 (OGE) and 26 (OGE).
The MEGAL (Mittel-Europäische Gasleitung) pipeline system is operated by a joint venture company established by the two gas transmission system operators Open Grid Europe and GRTgaz Deutschland. MEGAL consists of two axes: MEGAL North, a dual natural gas pipeline stretching for some 460 km from the Czech border to France, and MEGAL South, running from the Austrian border towards Rothenstadt.
The new compressor station will essentially consist of three new gas turbine-driven turbo compressor units each housed in a separate compressor building with the associated peripheral piping and plant systems, as well as a new supply and fuel gas building to accommodate all necessary auxiliary installations and systems.
Initial preparations for the construction project began in January 2020. The plant is scheduled for completion in 2023.
We are planning to expand our supra-regional gas transmission system to include a new high-capacity pipeline known as EUSAL. It will run from the Erftstadt area (North Rhine-Westphalia) to Euskirchen-Kuchenheim.
The pipeline will have a diameter of DN 400 and is designed for an operating pressure of up to 100 bar. The planning decision made by the district government of Cologne has been available since August 2020. The removal of the topsoil is scheduled to start in mid-September 2020. The main construction work will then begin in March 2021, with completion of the construction work planned for autumn 2021.
This new link will allow the urgent conversion of the regional and municipal gas grids from low-calorific (L-gas) to high-calorific natural gas (H-gas) in the Euskirchen area in 2022 and in the Bonn-Euskirchen area in 2023. The construction project serves to secure supplies to residential consumers and industry.
In December 2019, the Wertingen (Bavaria) compressor station was successfully commissioned. It is connected to a network junction where the "Northern Munich Bypass" ("Nordumgehung München – Amerdingen-Wertingen-Anwalting-Finsing-Schnaitsee) and the "CEL" (Vohburg-Wertingen-Senden) gas transmission pipelines converge.
The investors in this compressor station, which is equipped with three electrically driven compressor units with a total capacity of 33 megawatts, are transmission system operators bayernets GmbH (55 percent) and Open Grid Europe GmbH (45 percent). Both companies also have a stake in the "Munich Northern Bypass" gas transmission pipeline.
In October 2019, a new electrically driven compressor was officially commissioned at Open Grid Europe’s compressor station in Krummhörn (Lower Saxony). Its aim is to use renewable generation peaks to smooth out the load on the transmission system and the regional power grid.
The ICL compressor, which is driven by an electric motor, has a capacity of 13.6 MW. It was manufactured by Baker Hughes General Electric (BHGE) in Le Creusot, France.
The new electric compressor provides an answer to one of the key challenges of the energy transition because it reduces the load in regional power grids, particularly when there is a lot of wind power that cannot be transported to the south. Measures such as these provide significant grid support capabilities. They also help to improve grid utilisation and promote the local use wind power.
Located just under 20 km west of Fulda (Hesse), the new Herbstein compressor station was commissioned in autumn 2019. It comprises three new gas turbine-driven compressor units (type Titan 130 manufactured by Solar Turbines with an individual drive capacity of 13 MW) as well as all necessary ancillary facilities and operating buildings.
The station is connected to the three gas transmission pipelines no. 56 (Werne - Schlüchtern), no. 57 (Lauterbach - Vitzeroda) and no. 83 (Lauterbach - Scheidt).
The new transmission pipeline from Forchheim to Finsing (Bavaria) built in parallel to an existing line was commissioned in May 2019. The approximately 77 km loop line runs from the OGE/ bayernets station in Forchheim to the new metering and regulating station in Finsing, just south of Munich Airport. It has a diameter of DN 1000 and is designed for a pressure of 100 bar.
The new pipeline is designed increase the capacity of the natural gas transmission system from the north to the south and vice versa while and to meet the capacity requirements of regional and local distribution system operators.
