Germany’s most strategic construction site lies at the end of a windswept pier on the North Sea coast, where workers are assembling the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal.

From this winter, the oil rig near the Wilhelmshaven port will be able to deliver the equivalent of 20 percent of the gas that was imported from Russia until recently.

Since invading Ukraine, Moscow has cut gas supplies to Germany, while the Nord Stream pipelines, which were transporting vast amounts under the Baltic Sea to Europe, were damaged last week in what a Danish-Swedish report called a “premeditious act”.

In its search for alternative sources, the federal government has invested billions in five projects like the one in Wilhelmshaven.

In total, the new fleet should be able to process around 25 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which is about half the capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

At the construction site in Wilhelmshaven, the semi-finished concrete platform jutting out of the sea sprays workers in fluorescent yellow vests with a fine mist.

Back on the mainland, a steady stream of trucks is delivering lengths of gray pipe that are meant to route the terminal to the gas grid.

LNG terminals allow for sea imports of natural gas that has been refrigerated and liquefied for ease of transportation.

A special vessel known as the FSRU, which can store the fuel and convert LNG back into ready-to-use gas, will also be connected to the platform to complete the installation.

Unlike other countries in Europe, Germany has not had an LNG terminal so far, but was dependent on relatively cheap pipeline supplies from Russia.

But since invading Ukraine, Germany has set about weaning itself off of Moscow’s gas exports, which previously made up 55 percent of its supplies.

To diversify its sources, ensure adequate fuel supplies and keep its factories running, Berlin has bet heavily on LNG to fill the gap left by Russian imports.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates for the supply of LNG while touring the Gulf states in search of new sources.

Renting five FSRU vessels to connect to the new terminals has also cost Berlin three billion euros ($2.9 billion).

After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Germany passed a law that drastically accelerates the approval process for LNG terminals.

In Wilhelmshaven, the work is progressing rapidly. The terminal should be ready “this winter,” says Holger Kreetz, who heads the project at German energy company Uniper.

The strategic importance of the terminal allowed the construction work to progress surprisingly quickly. “Typically, a project like this takes five to six years,” Kreetz told AFP.

The arrival of the new terminal was welcomed by many residents of Wilhelmshaven, where deindustrialization has pushed the unemployment rate to 10 percent, almost double the national average.

“It’s good that it’s in Wilhelmshaven… it will bring jobs,” Ingrid Schon, 55, told AFP.

Opposition comes from groups concerned that the accelerated permitting and construction deadlines could come at the expense of the environment.

In August, young activists from the “Ende Gelände” group managed to block the site in Wilhelmshaven for a day.

The German environmental organization DUH said the work would “irreversibly destroy sensitive ecosystems and endanger the habitat of endangered porpoises”.

The source of the fuel was also a sore point, as concerns were raised that natural gas produced by fracking in the United States could be imported through the new terminal.

Criticism of the project was dismissed by Economy Minister Robert Habeck, a Green Party politician, who emphasized the importance of “energy security”.

By 2030, the site is to be converted for the import of green, regeneratively produced hydrogen, which Berlin is relying on as part of its energy transition.