Energiequelle Launches First Hydrogen Project in Finland with 500 MW Capacity

The European renewable energy group Energiequelle has received a planning reservation for its Oulu Green Hydrogen Park project.

The new hydrogen production plant and hydrogen refueling stations would be built in the city of Oulu, located in northern Finland, about 600 km north of the capital Helsinki. This is the company's first public hydrogen project in Finland.

The first phase of the project would involve the construction of a hydrogen production plant of maximum 5 megawatts (MW) and a hydrogen refueling station for buses and other heavy-duty vehicles.

"If the right market conditions are met, we expect the first phase to be ready by 2028. However, this is a major industrial project and investment, so the planning reservation we have now received is only one of the first steps towards making concrete investment decisions. In projects of this size, planning and studies are always carried out carefully," comments Karl Schultheis, Head of New Business Development at Energiequelle Finland.

In the next phase, the capacity of the hydrogen production plant would be increased by up to 10-50 MW and hydrogen exports via the planned hydrogen pipeline and the port of Oulu could be an option, if the needed infrastructure is available. In the third phase, production would be further increased to an additional capacity of 100-500 MW.

The schedule and full size of the project is highly dependent on the market situation and the infrastructure available in the selected new greenfield site.

The City of Oulu has reserved a total of three new hydrogen production and processing plants (including the Energiequelle project) on the same industrial site, with a combined potential capacity of maximum 1500 MW. 

"We believe that Oulu's strategy of bundling several hydrogen production operators in the same area is the right one, as it supports the development of hydrogen transmission infrastructure in the region and sends a clear message to the energy-intensive industry that they can count on hydrogen production in the region in the future. This is exactly the kind of predictable investment environment and confidence-building policies we hope to see from local, national and European decision-makers", comments Nils Borstelmann, Managing Director of Energiequelle Finland.