Germany will hand over an 84-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Lubmin near Greifswald — built to support Russia's Nord Stream 1 pipeline — to a Ukrainian power plant operator as humanitarian aid, Die Welt reports, citing Berlin-based Sefe Securing Energy for Europe GmbH and an earlier report by public broadcaster NDR.
Sefe, the majority owner of plant operator Industriekraftwerk Greifswald GmbH (IKG), says the facility had a single purpose: to provide the process heat needed when Russian gas was fed from Nord Stream 1 into the German long-distance pipeline network. According to Sefe, there were no other customers for that heat. After Russia halted deliveries through the Baltic Sea in September 2022, operations became unprofitable, and the plant was shut down in 2023. No buyer could be found.
"The power plant will therefore be made available to a Ukrainian power plant operator within the framework of humanitarian aid on a self-pickup basis," Sefe said in a statement quoted by Die Welt. The company added that, compared with dismantling and scrapping the unit, the donation carries no economic disadvantage, and that "the transaction contributes to maintaining Ukrainian energy infrastructure."
AfD pushes back
The plan drew sharp criticism from the local Alternative for Germany (AfD). Nikolaus Kramer, an AfD member of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliament and of the Vorpommern-Greifswald district council, called the move "absurd," according to regional outlet Nordkurier, cited by Die Welt.
Kramer said his AfD faction in the district council intends to press the local administrator to lobby the state government to build a new gas-fired plant at the Lubmin site — even as, in his words, "a fully functional CHP plant is to be dismantled and given to Ukraine right there."
"This plant should serve our country's energy security. A slap in the face for our citizens," Kramer said, as quoted by Die Welt.
Per the Ukrainian-language summary of the report, an AfD faction in the city of Cottbus has previously stated in a programmatic document its intention to restore gas supplies through existing pipelines, including Nord Stream.
Nord Stream background
Die Welt notes that Russia reduced gas supplies through Nord Stream 1 in summer 2022 and stopped them entirely shortly after. Both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 — the latter never having entered operation because of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine — were severely damaged in explosions soon afterwards. According to the outlet, whether and when the pipelines may be repaired remains unclear, and Germany has said it does not intend to import Russian gas following the invasion.
