Open Grid Europe GmbH Kallenbergstraße 5 D-45141

Please direct all enquiries to:

Alexander Land, Head of Communications and Energy Policy Press Release T +49 201 3642-12620 F +49 201 3642-8-12620

alexander.land Essen, 4 May 2016 @open-grid-europe.com www.open-grid-europe.com

Start of regional planning process for the ZEELINK Helmut Roloff, natural gas transmission pipeline Press Officer Communications Documents available for public inspection at local and district and Energy Policy government offices T +49 201 3642-12613 F +49 201 3642-8-12613

The district governments of , Düsseldorf, Münster and the Regional helmut.roloff @open-grid-europe.com Association Ruhr are about to start the regional planning process for the www.open-grid-europe.com ZEELINK gas transmission pipeline by disclosing the procedural documents. They will be made available for inspection by the public at the local and district government and Regional Association Ruhr offices from 9 May to 1 July 2016. Government bodies involved in the process, associations, organisations, towns, cities, communities and the general public can submit comments in writing to the disclosing authorities.

The ZEELINK pipeline is divided into two sections. The first section runs from Lichtenbusch near to Sankt Hubert, the second section stretches from Sankt Hubert to Legden near Ahaus. For these sections there will be two separate planning processes conducted in parallel. Given the cross-regional importance of the project, statutory regulations require a regional planning process that includes a review of the project’s environmental compatibility. This process will look at the project only in terms of its regional planning aspects and from a supra-regional perspective. Open Grid Europe and its project partner Thyssengas have examined different corridors in terms of their compatibility with the protection of man and the environment.

The scope and details of the regional planning process were defined at a scoping meeting in June 2015. In addition Open Grid Europe organised a series of ZEELINK dialogue markets from mid-February to early March, giving the public the chance meet with company representatives to discuss various aspects of the project and provide information relevant to the planning process for the different route options even before the start of the process. The events were held at the initiative of Open Grid Europe.

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The documents will be available for public inspection at the offices of the district governments in Cologne, Münster and Düsseldorf, the Regional Association Ruhr and the affected districts Rhein-Erft, , Düren, the City Region and the city of Aachen, the district of Neuss, the districts of , , Recklinghausen, , , and the independent cities of Mönchengladbach, and . The documents are also available on the websites of the district governments and on the ZEELINK project website at www.zeelink.de.

The regional planning process will end with a proposal for a preferred route which will also be presented by Open Grid Europe as part of dialogue events, as necessary, in spring 2017. This will be followed by the planning approval process. Construction is due to start in late 2018. The whole ZEELINK pipeline is scheduled to be commissioned in March 2021.

About ZEELINK The natural gas transmission system ZEELINK is part of the 2015 National Gas Network Development Plan (NDP Gas 2015) and will ensure the necessary conversion from L-gas to H-gas. Both gas types are used in . However, L-gas production is expected to drop by about 90 per cent until 2030 because of declining production. The ZEELINK project will guarantee the supply of H-gas to millions of residential, commercial and industrial gas users. This makes ZEELINK a hugely significant infrastructure project for Germany and North Rhine-. Construction is due to start in 2019 with commissioning expected for March 2021. For more information about the project, go to www.zeelink.de

About Open Grid Europe With a pipeline network of around 12,000 kilometres in length, Open Grid Europe is one of Europe’s leading transmission system operators. 1,650 employees provide safe, customer-focused gas transportation throughout Germany. Open Grid Europe actively supports the European gas market, working together with European transmission system operators to create the right conditions for international gas transportation and trading. At approx. 679 billion kilowatt hours (2014), the annual exit volume of Open Grid Europe accounts for about two thirds of Germany’s total gas consumption. For more information about the company, go to www.open-grid-europe.com.

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Open Grid Europe GmbH Kallenbergstraße 5 D-45141 Essen

Please direct all enquiries to:

Alexander Land, Head of Communications and Energy Policy T +49 201 3642-12620 F +49 201 3642-8-12620

alexander.land @open-grid-europe.com About Thyssengas www.open-grid-europe.com Thyssengas GmbH, based in /Germany, is an independent gas network operator and one Helmut Roloff, of Germany’s leading natural gas transmission companies. In North Rhine-Westphalia, our core Press Officer market area, we operate seven branch offices and a pipeline transmission system of around 4,200 Communications kilometres supplying up to 100 billion kilowatt-hours of natural gas to distribution system operators, and Energy Policy industrial companies and power plants in a safe and environmentally friendly way. T +49 201 3642-12613 F +49 201 3642-8-12613

helmut.roloff @open-grid-europe.com www.open-grid-europe.com

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