Status: 4/4/2023 4:55 p.m
Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg today agreed that most of the silt from the Elbe will be dumped off Helgoland for the next ten years. The area at buoy E3 off the North Sea island has been under discussion for some time. In December, both countries declared that Helgoland would be a possible solution.
The location alone showed that today was something different than normal cabinet meetings: In the Elbe port in Brunsbüttel (Dithmarschen district), both the members of the state government of Schleswig-Holstein and the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg were shown what is at stake: energy policy. And in small as well as big. First, the politicians of both countries visited the mobile LNG terminal, the “Höegh Gannet”, which is currently the only such terminal in the Hamburg metropolitan region. And Hamburg’s Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) and Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) wanted one thing above all today: demonstrate unity. For example with the eternal topic of Elbe silt.
Elbschlick solution for the next ten years
About 1.5 to 2 million tons of silt are to be dumped off Helgoland in the next ten years. According to Tschentscher, the area is outside the cycle that would repeatedly wash the silt back into the Elbe. According to Tschentscher, it has now been agreed that most of the Elbe silt should be brought to Schleswig-Holstein. Günther was also satisfied and explained that “we have, so to speak, balanced the interests of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and that a solution has been found for the E3 barrel for the next ten years.”
Agreement also on A20 expansion
After solving the Elbe silt problem, Tschentscher and Günther also agreed on the expansion of rail and road traffic. Both emphasize the Relevance of the A20, which is an important east-west axis for Schleswig-Holstein and, as a crossing of the Elbe, could also relieve the Hamburg bottleneck.
On the subject of energy policy, both confirmed that they wanted to continue to exert more pressure on the federal government with a joint hydrogen strategy and, among other things, called for the timely connection to the European hydrogen network. The European hydrogen transmission network “HyPerLink III” planned by the transmission system operator Gasunie is to run from the Danish border to the south of the Elbe. In order to be able to supply northern German industry with hydrogen at an early stage, the federal government must ensure that this project can be put into operation by 2028. “The north is the future region for the production, use and distribution of green hydrogen in Germany,” says Peter Tschentscher.
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