On May 4, Euromaidan Press quoted information from the German newspaper Die Welt as saying that Germany will transfer a 84 MW gas power plant in Lubmin, near the city of Greifswald, to a Ukrainian power plant operator. The transfer is carried out in the form of humanitarian aid.
According to Die Welt, this plant is related to SEFE Securing Energy for Europe GmbH, an energy corporation based in Berlin and currently owned by the German Government (SEFE). The plan to transfer the plant to Ukraine was previously reported by public television NDR.
The gas power plant in Lubmin was built to serve a specific task: Providing heat for the process of receiving Russian gas from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline into the German transmission pipeline system. According to SEFE, in addition to this function, the plant has no other customers using the generated heat.
After Russia stopped supplying gas through the Baltic Sea in September 2022, the plant's operations were no longer economically efficient. The facility was later closed in 2023. SEFE said it could not find a suitable buyer for the plant.
In a statement quoted by Die Welt, SEFE said the plant will be handed over to a Ukrainian electricity operating unit within the framework of humanitarian aid. The reception is carried out in the form of the Ukrainian side self-organizing the dismantling and transportation of equipment.
SEFE believes that this transfer plan is not economically disadvantageous compared to dismantling the plant for scrap. The company also said that the handover may contribute to supporting the maintenance of Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
However, this plan faced reactions from some local politicians belonging to the AfD, the right-wing opposition party in Germany. Mr. Nikolaus Kramer, AfD MP in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and member of the Vorpommern-Greifswald district council, said that this decision was unreasonable.
According to Die Welt, citing the Nordkurier regional newspaper, the AfD group in the district council is expected to propose that the local government mobilize the state government to build a new gas power plant in Lubmin. The reason given is that the locality still needs to ensure energy security, while an existing plant is being dismantled to be transferred to Ukraine.
Mr. Kramer believes that the plant in Lubmin should be considered to serve domestic energy needs before transferring to another party.
Die Welt recalled that Russia reduced gas supplies through Nord Stream 1 in the summer of 2022 and stopped completely not long after. Both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were later heavily damaged in explosions.
Germany currently affirms that it has no intention of importing Russian gas after the conflict in Ukraine broke out.
