Photo: Excelerate Energy, Inc.
Europe's energy markets have experienced uncertainty since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and has since sought to influence European countries' decision-making by cutting off gas and oil supplies.
The Finnish and Estonian governments are moving quickly to reduce their dependence on gas imported from Russia by chartering an LNG terminal ship that can feed gas into both countries' gas networks. The ship is due to arrive in Finland during December.
In Finland, the LNG terminal ship will be located in Fortum's port of Inkoo. Similar infrastructure is also being built in Estonia.
Inkoo, on the southern coast of Finland, has a suitable deep-water port close to pipelines that distribute gas to industrial and other end-users in Finland, Estonia and the Baltic Sea region.
Construction of the port facilities and the natural gas pipeline started in August and the LNG terminal ship, which will be 291 metres long and 43 metres wide, is expected to start LNG production and distribution in January 2023. Critical to Finland's security of supply, the LNG terminal ship project will secure gas supplies well into the future.
After commissioning, LNG will be delivered to the terminal ship in separate tankers from the global market. Examples of producing countries include Australia, the United States, Malaysia, Algeria, Norway and Qatar. One transfer takes about 24 hours.
Insulated with WISA® plywood
The LNG terminal ship that will be located in Finland was built at the Daewoo shipyard in South Korea in 2010. The TS Exemplar is equipped with GTT NO96 tanks with a capacity of 150,900 cubic metres. This is equivalent to around 68,000 tonnes of LNG. UPM Plywood's WISA®-Birch plywood was used in building the ship, and it is specially manufactured for insulating tanks inside LNG tankers.
The temperature of liquefied natural gas is -163º C and, at the same time, the surface temperature of the ship in the sun can be several dozens of degrees. Due to the large temperature difference, insulation plays an important role in the structural durability and energy efficiency of a ship. The natural properties of birch plywood make it an excellent building material for these extreme conditions.
Floating LNG terminal ship Exemplar
The Floating Storage and Resettlement Unit (FSRU) Exemplar is 291 metres long and 43 metres wide. It will have a capacity of around 151,000 cubic metres, equivalent to around 68,000 tonnes of LNG (liquefied natural gas) when fully loaded. This represents around 1,050 GWh of energy.
- Evaporation capacity of 140 GWh per day and up to more than 40 TWh per year.
- The ship's evaporation capacity exceeds Finland's annual demand for natural gas, which has traditionally been around 25 TWh/year.
- FSRU Exemplar will serve the entire Baltic Sea region gas market with its significant capacity through the Baltic Connector.
- The FSRU Exemplar was built in 2010 at the Daewoo shipyard in South Korea
- Approximately 3,000 m3 of WISA-Birch plywood has been used to insulate the ship