Project phases
From the vision of a new pipeline to the ground-breaking ceremony and the start of deliveries a great deal of heavy material has to be moved: equipment, construction vehicles, tonnes of earth, yet more steel, and paper – no less weighty with a project this size.
When the plans for the OPAL were first devised, the idea was to generate more supply security for Europe and Germany. The starting point of the pipeline in Lubmin near Greifswald and its termination on the German-Czech border near Olbernhau were determined when the decision on the route of the Nord Stream pipeline was taken. The route that the new OPAL pipeline will take between the starting point and the destination is the subject of detailed analyses and an intensive dialogue between the relevant government agencies and the building contractors.
The regional planning procedure
In the preparatory stage, geographical information about the planned route is compiled together with the various route alternatives. The route engineers then submit the conclusions of the planning activities to the government agencies and local authorities, and also present them at a pre-application conference. As well as exchanging information on the possible route of the pipeline and on regional aspects at this event, the parameters of the regional planning surveys and how their contents should be prepared for the regional planning procedure are also decided.
The documents for the regional planning procedure consist primarily of spatial impact assessments and the first environmental impact studies. They form the basis for the subsequent land-use and regional planning procedure, and public representatives i.e. the authorities, environmental associations and citizens from nearby municipalities, can send in their responses to the state planning agency based on these documents. The state planning agency then looks at whether the project is compatible with the region’s land-use planning and with existing projects, and whether the plan’s energy management, economic, ecological, social and cultural parameters are in line with the state’s regional planning strategy or can be brought in harmony with it.
The official regional planning procedure is normally completed within half a year and is considered as the basis for the decision within the subsequent planning approval process.
The planning approval process
An energy infrastructure project with the magnitude of the OPAL pipeline requires a focussed approach to the authorisation process. The planning approval process, which is relevant for the energy industry, examines all the public law and private law concerns and weighs them up against each other. Forestry management considerations and the conservation of protected areas both play a role in this process.
The agencies responsible outline their positions on the planning documents submitted, which are also displayed publicly, in a public hearing. The hearing gives all the parties affected by the project the opportunity to express their views, and to make sure their concerns and proposals are heard during the process. All the responses are considered by the planning agencies in their decision. They conclude the process by passing a resolution on the planning approval process.
Preparing the route
Other project measures are already taking place in parallel with the official authorisation process. In view of the high demand for steel on the international markets, the project partners decided to place the first order for pipes and deliver them to the pipeline track. They decided to take this commercial risk so that they would be able to make quick progress with the construction of the pipeline later. They also started a dialogue with land owners along the planned track which is still ongoing.
After the starting signal has been given
Construction of the pipeline will start once the planning approval process, the actual permission to build, has been completed. A working strip 36 metres wide will be set up for each individual section. These will provide enough room to manoeuvre the construction vehicles and to store the excavated earth. The construction workers in forest areas won’t have quite as much room as the working strip there is limited to 30 metres so that as few trees as possible have to be felled.
While the welders begin connecting the 18-meter-long pipeline sections, diggers excavate the actual pipeline trenches. This stage of the construction is accompanied by experts who recommend how to deal with discoveries in the soil, whether they are remnants of the war such as munitions and bombs or more pleasing findings such as evidence of former settlements. Experts examine the welding seams according to strict safety regulations before the pipes are lowered into the trenches. Each welding seam is certified technically in this inspection process. After that the excavated earth can be spread out over the pipeline again.
As if nothing had happened
The lowering of the pipes into the trenches is by no means the end of the pipeline construction work; thereafter the land surrounding the track has to be restored to its former condition as far as possible. The entire process is thus accompanied by ecological experts right up until the final renaturation and recultivation of the working strip. After that, all that remains to be seen of the pipeline are the yellow marking posts along the track.
