Equinor explores role in Germany's gas plant capacity expansion

By Nora Buli

OSLO (Reuters) -Norwegian energy producer Equinor is looking at options for participating in a planned German gas-fired power plant tender but requires more detail before making any decision, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

Germany plans to tender eight gigawatts (GW) of new gas-fired power plant capacity next year, with a further 2 GW to be offered in 2026 and 2027 to strike a balance between decarbonisation and backing up intermittent renewables.

"We have had, and are having, conversations with actors who will most certainly be in the picture and then we need to see whether we can play a role in this," Helge Haugane, head of Equinor's power business area, told Reuters.

Any involvement depended also on the economics, with many of the tender details still unclear, he added.

"But in general, when we enter power plants, like we did in Britain for example, it was with a partner," Haugane said.

Equinor launched the power unit this year, combining the group's separate renewable energy and power generation activities in a single unit.

The company already owns onshore and offshore wind farms, solar power plants, batteries and gas-fired power stations, and the new unit seeks to invest into a mix of technologies.

Norway is the largest supplier of natural gas to Germany, with Equinor the single biggest gas producer in the Nordic country, utilising direct pipeline connections as well as new German import terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG).

While the gas for its power plants in Britain is procured on the open market, Equinor could consider supplying its own gas directly to other projects, Haugane said.

(Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik)