Wilhelmshaven

The chain of the place

1. 01

   LNG: Carriers bring deep-cooled liquefied natural gas (−162 °C) across the sea.

2. 02

   Gas again: The terminal ship warms it until it is a gas again.

3. 03

   Into the grid: The connecting pipeline carries the gas to the Etzel storage and into the transmission grid.

4. 04

   Crude oil: Crude tankers unload at the jetties in the middle of the Jade.

5. 05

   To the Rhineland: The North-West oil pipeline carries the oil about 391 km to the Rhineland.

6. 06

   Coal: Coal ships supply the new plant; the older one has been idle since the end of 2021.

What is shown – why – for whom

Facilities and areas in the model

• Kraftwerk Wilhelmshaven (1976–2021)

  Hard coal, 757 MW, on the grid since 1976, finally shut down in December 2021 after winning the closure tender. The chimney is 275 m tall.

• Kraftwerk Wilhelmshaven (seit 2015)

  One of Germany's youngest coal plants: 731 MW net, in operation since 2015. Under the coal exit law, coal ends here by 2038 at the latest; biomass is being considered.

• Wilhelmshaven refinery (tank terminal today)

  The refinery was built in 1973–1976. It was shut down in 1985, restarted at the end of 1991 and finally mothballed around 2010.

• Tank farms at the oil harbour

  Every tank with its outline from OpenStreetMap and its height from the surface model. The North-West oil pipeline company alone has tanks for about 1.6 million m³ here.

• LNG terminal Wilhelmshaven 1

  Germany's first LNG terminal, opened on 17 December 2022: a special ship turns liquefied natural gas back into gas, about 5 billion m³ a year. Built in less than a year when Russian pipeline gas stopped.

• LNG terminal Wilhelmshaven 2

  Second floating terminal, the Excelsior, in commercial operation since 29 August 2025. Berth derived from the route of the second connecting pipeline.

• Umspannwerk Fedderwarden

  380/220 kV: power from the coast and the power plants enters the extra-high-voltage grid here. The 380 kV line to Conneforde has underground cable sections (position OpenStreetMap).

• Umspannwerk Maade

  220 kV, grid connection of the power plants at the port (position OpenStreetMap).

• Wind turbines near Sengwarden

  Wind turbines in the area, each individually from the market master data register.

Processes in the model

How a port can use the model

• Port and operations

  Terminals, jetties, tank farm, power plants and substations on one shore: the model shows how gas, oil, coal and power pass through the port and where they go next.

  対象Port and plant operators, site planning

• Municipality and economy

  What came, what went, what is coming? Time travel shows 1975, 1995, 2015 and 2025: refinery, two coal plants, the wind turbines near Sengwarden and finally the two LNG terminals.

  対象Municipalities, economic development, chambers and associations

• Schools and universities

  How does an LNG terminal work? The steps LNG, gas again, into the grid, crude oil, to the Rhineland and coal fly to each part, and it lights up.

  対象Teachers, energy and process engineering students

• Museums and exhibitions

  The event ‘LNG from 2022’ tells the story of gas supply after deliveries from Russia ended: in the fuels view the terminal and the pipelines into the gas grid light up, and carriers berth.

  対象Museums, exhibitions, contemporary history

• Public communication

  One port, many questions: where does the gas come from, where does the oil go, what happens without coal? With ‘Switch off’ the model shows who steps in when the 2015 plant is missing.

  対象Public relations, policymakers, neighbours

What you can change

What the model gives a port

• 01

  A port as an energy hub

  Gas, oil, coal and power on one coast: the model shows the Jade and the mudflats by elevation, jetties, terminals and pipelines together.

• 02

  Contemporary history to walk through

  Refinery from 1973, power plant from 1976 to 2021, new power plant from 2015, LNG from 2022: the history of the place jumps to every year.

• 03

  Play through situations

  Winter evening without wind or sun, stormy night with surplus, LNG from 2022: each situation is set with one click, and the stacks show who delivers.

• 04

  Five views

  Power, heat, fuels, storage and CO₂ – the same world read five ways, with values right at the plants.

• 05

  In the browser and on the big screen

  A browser is enough, and large projections work too. Eleven more places and the map of Germany are part of the same model, designed by an artist and developer.

• 

  Wesseling

  Germany’s largest refinery site as a walkable model: crude oil from Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven, distillation column, tank farm and Rhine ships – and since 2021 hydrogen made from power.

• 

  Hamm-Uentrop

  Five decades of energy on the Lippe and the canal as a walkable model: the THTR-300 thorium reactor, the Westfalen hard-coal plant, a gas plant, a large battery – and soon direct current from Wilhelmshaven.

• 

  Coast near Norden

  Where energy from the North Sea comes ashore, as a walkable model: six direct-current cables under the dike, natural gas from Norway since 1995 and more than 200 wind turbines behind the dike.

• 

  Datteln 4

  Germany’s newest hard-coal plant as a walkable model: coal by ship on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, power for the grid and the railway, district heat as far as Recklinghausen.

• 

  North Sea off Borkum

  The beginning of German offshore wind as a walkable model: twelve test turbines from 2009, a cluster of 284 turbines and about 1,660 MW, substation and converter platforms and the way ashore.

• 

  Germany 1975–2025

  Fifty years of energy supply on one map: 365 sites, ten grid regions and the power of every hour – from two separate grids in 1975 to wind and sun in 2025.

• 

  Rhineland lignite district

  The Rhineland lignite district as a walkable model: from the Garzweiler mine via conveyors, boilers and cooling towers into the 380 kV grid – while wind, sun and batteries grow on the reclaimed land.

• 

  Düsseldorf Lausward

  A combined-cycle gas plant on the Rhine as a walkable model: power to the grid, heat via a 58 m storage tank and the district heating line into the media harbour and the city centre.