Three New Hydrogen Plants Planned For Industrial Complex In Finland

The City of Oulu in central Finland is preparing to reserve land for three new hydrogen production and processing plants to support the growth of Oulu’s local hydrogen economy and infrastructure.

The site is a large-scale, industrial area of up to 800 hectares. The plants would produce hydrogen and synthetic fuels processed from hydrogen, both for local use and for export via the Port of Oulu and a new hydrogen pipeline to central Europe.

German ABO Energy group is one of the companies that has been granted a planning reservation to build a hydrogen production plant at the Pyyryväinen site.

In addition to hydrogen production, the company is exploring the possibility of producing methanol and sustainable aviation fuel (E-SAF) in Oulu.

In the preliminary plan, the new hydrogen plant would have an electrolyser with a maximum capacity of 600MW and implementation would take place in 2-3 phases, with the first phase planned to be operational around by 2036.

Energiequelle Oy is another company planning a hydrogen production plant of up to 5MW and a hydrogen refuelling station for buses and other heavy vehicles. Later phases will see the capacity of the hydrogen production plant increased up to 500MW.

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A third unnamed company is considering building about 400MW of electrolysis capacity for hydrogen production in the region. The first phase of the plant is tentatively scheduled to be deployed in 2030.

“Finland is an incredibly attractive destination for investment, thanks to our abundant, affordable green electricity and exceptional capacity to scale up production. Our unique strength as a company lies in our ability to supply renewable energy to hydrogen projects directly through our wind energy portfolio,” says Amanda Cardwell of ABO Energy Suomi Oy.

Electricity in Finland is among the cheapest in Europe and the Oulu region is the largest producer of renewable electricity in Finland.

According to ABO Energy, several other hydrogen production and H2 derivative projects have already been initiated in the Oulu region. Gasgrid Finland plans to establish a hydrogen transport infrastructure to connect Oulu’s hydrogen production with the rest of Finland and other European countries, including Germany.

Other hydrogen production companies have also decided to invest in Oulu, attracted by the international port of Oulu, biogenic carbon dioxide sources and the European TEN-T transport network.