Wilhelmshaven TES LNG Terminal

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Wilhelmshaven TES LNG Terminal, also known as German North Sea LNG, is an LNG import terminal in Germany with units that are proposed.

Location

Table 1: Location details

Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Wilhelmshaven TES LNG Terminal (base project)	Wilhelmshaven, Germany	53.516667, 8.133333 (approximate)
eLNG Import Terminal	Wilhelmshaven, Germany	53.516667, 8.133333 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the terminal:

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Project Details

Table 2: Infrastructure details

mtpa = million tonnes per year

Name	Facility type	Status	Capacity	Total terminal capacity	Offshore	Associated infrastructure
Wilhelmshaven TES LNG Terminal (base project)	import	proposed	11.03 mtpa	N/A (multiple facility types)	False	Wilhelmshaven FSRU, Wilhelmshaven TES FSRU; Wilhelmshaven LNG Terminal Pipeline
eLNG Import Terminal	import	proposed	–	–	False	Wilhelmshaven FSRU, Wilhelmshaven TES FSRU; Wilhelmshaven LNG Terminal Pipeline

Table 3: Cost

Name	Facility type	Cost	Total known terminal costs
Wilhelmshaven TES LNG Terminal (base project)	import	–	–
eLNG Import Terminal	import	–	–

Financing

No financing data available.

Table 4: Project timeline

FID = Final Investment Decision, used by some developers to indicate a project will move forward

Name	Facility type	Status	Proposal year	FID year	Construction year	Operating year	Inactive year
Wilhelmshaven TES LNG Terminal (base project)	import	proposed	2019	–	–	–	–
eLNG Import Terminal	import	proposed	2022	–	–	–	–

Ownership

Table 5: Ownership

Name	Facility type	Status	Owners	Parent companies	Operator
Wilhelmshaven TES LNG Terminal (base project)	import	proposed	Tree Energy Solutions [100%]	Tree Energy Solutions [100.0%]	–
eLNG Import Terminal	import	proposed	other	other	–

Background

Wilhelmshaven TES LNG Terminal is intended to be longer-term replacement for the interim onshore Wilhelmshaven FSRU and/or Wilhelmshaven TES FSRU.

The Belgian hydrogen company Tree Energy Solutions (TES) commenced plans in 2019 to develop a "green energy hub" at Germany's Wilhelmshaven port. As a result of the European energy crisis in early 2022, TES announced it would first accommodate LNG as a transition fuel at Wilhelmshaven and would work to ensure an operational start of the project's first phase by the fourth quarter of 2025. Discussing TES's acceleration of its plans in March in 2022, the company's founder and managing director Paul van Poecke said that the project was deserving of the same, if not stronger, support from the German state than was being shown to other new LNG terminal initiatives in the country. TES is backed by the Belgian investor group AltaInvest, and the investment needs for the terminal have been reported as €25 billion out to 2045.

TES had planned for the first phase of its Wilhelmshaven project to accommodate 25 TWh of green gas imports, rising to 250 TWh per year and over 5 million tonnes of hydrogen in its final stage by 2045. TES's Chief Operational Officer Otto Waterlander told Reuters in March 2022 that the German government requested TES "integrate an LNG terminal" into the planned hydrogen factory to reduce dependence on Russian gas imports. In March 2022, TES and energy firm E.ON signed a deal to import green hydrogen primarily produced from solar, wind and hydro power in countries with "abundant renewable energy sources". The initial phase would see the Wilhelmshaven hub receiving more than half a million tonnes of hydrogen.

In April 2022, TES launched an open season running to May 25, 2022 for entities seeking to import LNG, stating that it was planning for initial capacity to import up to 16-20 bcm/y of LNG from 2025 onwards, with potential expansion beyond this date depending on market demand. The company said that from 2027/8 onwards its regasification terminal will, as part of the Wilhelmshaven Green Energy Hub, "increasingly be reserved for imports of fossil-free green gas". The terminal layout is to ultimately be comprised of 6 ship berths, 1,600,000 cubic meters of onshore storage capacity using 8 onsite tanks, of which four will be available during the initial stage. TES's plan is for the terminal to offer direct access to an extensive gas pipeline network, including existing salt caverns at Etzel and proximity to the Groningen gas grid infrastructure.

In May 2022, TES announced that its onshore terminal had been included as a "Priority Project" under the German Government's Acceleration Law, granting the project the right to reduced permitting and associated approval periods before the commencement of construction. In June 2022, TES disclosed that its open season had raised "strong market interest," with the company receiving expressions of interest from approximately 25 interested parties for more than twice the offered capacity of 20 bcm/y for conventional LNG. Otto Waterlander, Chief Commercial Officer at TES, said that over 70% of those 25 interested parties "expressed interest in transitioning to green gas imports before 2043. This proves the TES value proposition to scale up green hydrogen-based gas imports for the German market.” In March 2024, TES was granted an exemption from open market regulations that will allow it to book long-term capacity and set its own tariffs. In a press statement related to the exemption, TES said that the terminal will "have fully transitioned to the import of electric natural gas (e-NG) latest in 2044."

In April 2026, TES gave its planned import terminal project in Wilhelmshaven a new name - Jade Energy. As of July 2026, the project is progressing through permitting and development. According to TES, the terminal will begin commercial operations in 2030 with an initial capacity of 15 bcm/year, expandable to more than 20 bcm/year.

Ownership

In October 2022, Australian firm Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and TES announced a partnership that would see the supply of 300,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen to Europe, with a final investment decision targeted for 2023. The hydrogen would be converted to synthetic methane and shipped to the planned TES import terminal in Wilhelmshaven. Through the agreement, FFI subsidiary Netherlands Fortescue Future Industries Holdings B.V. will invest EUR 30 million (USD 29 million) to become a shareholder in Tree Energy Solutions B.V. as well as invest EUR 100 million (USD 98 million) in the construction of the TES terminal in Wilhelmshaven, and be a major shareholder with a 30% stake in Deutsche Grüngas und Energieversorgung GmbH (a subsidiary of TES), the project company that will build the TES Green Energy Hub in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

Opposition

In May 2026, Lower Saxony's Higher Administrative Court dealt a setback to the Jade Energy terminal project when it provisionally suspended Wilhelmshaven's development plan for a "Green Energy Park" on roughly 154 hectares of land in the Voslapper Groden, an area protected under EU bird conservation rules. The court sided with a coalition of environmental groups (NABU, BUND, and Deutsche Umwelthilfe), who argued the city had not properly secured its environmental compensation measures before allowing construction to proceed. Notably, the court did not reject the project's underlying premise — it accepted that using part of the protected habitat for a climate-focused energy hub could, in principle, be justified — but found the city had failed to guarantee that offset measures elsewhere would be carried out in step with construction, rather than potentially lagging behind it. City officials and the Energy Hub organization have framed the ruling as a fixable procedural issue rather than a fatal blow, saying they intend to revise the plan and press ahead, though for now the injunction blocks any new permits based on the current plan while the main legal case remains pending.

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of LNG terminals, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.