On Tuesday November 1, at 6am, the Baltic Pipe project passed an important milestone: The receiving terminal in Nybro near Varde in Western Jutland was put into operation. So far, with half of the total capacity (6,700 MWh/h). This means that Norwegian gas now enters the new gas pipeline Baltic Pipe and can be sent on to Poland via the Danish gas system.

Energinet is expanding Ørsted's receiving terminal in Nybro as part of the Baltic Pipe project. The gas in the terminal is supplied from the Norwegian gas pipeline Europipe II in the North Sea. The gas is cleaned, and the gas pressure is reduced.

The Nybro part of Baltic Pipe should have been commissioned on October 1, 2022, but three times Energinet had to inform the gas market that commissioning was postponed. Poland has, however, been supplied with gas through the new gas pipeline since October 1 with gas from the European gas system and from the Danish part of the North Sea.

"It's a very important milestone for us that we have now succeeded in getting the plant in Nybro up and running. Many colleagues in and outside Energinet have worked hard to make it happen, and we were not pleased when we previously had to acknowledge that we were unable to reach the announced dates," says Torben Brabo, Director of International Relations in Energinet.

The receiving terminal in Nybro is a complex plant, and there have been major technical challenges – among other things with IT systems and with the important control and security systems.

As previously announced, full commissioning of the Nybro terminal will take place later in 2022.

Progress according to plan for the rest of the project

The Baltic Pipe project is now near its completion. The pipelines in the North Sea and in the Little Belt have been pressure tested and have all the necessary permits for commissioning.

The section across Zealand is ready, and the gas pipeline has been pressurised. The sections across Jutland and Funen which were delayed when the Danish Environmental and Food Appeals Board in May 2021 repealed the environmental permit from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, are almost completed. Final work is still needed at the compressor station in Everdrup before it can be put into full operation.

The commissioning of Baltic Pipe with a full capacity of up to 10 billion cubic metres of gas is scheduled for the end of November 2022.