The city of Oulu and Energiequelle Finland have reached an agreement on the construction of a hydrogen production plant and a hydrogen refuelling station
Energiequelle has received planning consent for its Oulu Green Hydrogen Park project. It is the company's first public hydrogen project in Finland and is to be developed in the city of Oulu, 600 kilometres north of Helsinki. The first phase of the project includes the construction of a hydrogen production plant with a maximum capacity of five MW and a hydrogen refuelling station for buses and heavy commercial 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 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 depending 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.
Energiequelle aims to replicate the concept already applied in Germany
The Oulu Green Hydrogen Park project is Energiequelle's first public hydrogen project in Finland, but the company has already gained experience in the European hydrogen market. In February, the group unveiled and opened the HY.City.Bremerhaven project in Germany, which was inaugurated by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
'In cooperation with other hydrogen players, Energiequelle is part of a hydrogen production facility and refueling station for heavy vehicles in the German city of Bremerhaven, which is very similar to the first phase of the project now planned for Oulu. We therefore have strong belief, that the project will proceed successfully,' says Michael Raschemann, the owner of the Energiequelle Group. He adds that of course the realization of the project will also depend on the investment environment and the market situation.
Finland would offer Germany a genuine market-based and clean alternative to natural gas
'From an international and European perspective, Finland has very good conditions and potential for the production of renewable energy and green hydrogen', says Nils Borstelmann, and points that Finland has a potential to be a major actor in Europe’s energy production – and for Germany. 'For several years now, energy in Finland has been one of the cheapest in Europe and already today 95% of Finland's electricity production is already emission-free and all new wind farms are also market-based, without any government subsidies”, Borstelmann continues. 'Affordable and clean energy are prerequisites for market-based hydrogen production, as hydrogen and its derivatives require a lot of energy. With its extensive land area, Finland also has great potential to significantly increase quickly the production of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, as the electrification of Europe progresses.'
Karl Schultheis comments: 'Finland's national hydrogen strategy has set a target of producing 10% of all green hydrogen in the whole European Union, and Germany's national hydrogen strategy has outlined a national demand for hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives of 95-130 TWh by 2030, of which around 50-70% (45-90 TWh) will have to be imported. Finland and Germany are perfect energy partners'.
The Finnish state-owned gas transmission system operator Gasgrid Finland is planning to establish a hydrogen transport infrastructure to connect Finland and Europe. In January 2025, all Gasgrid’s three hydrogen transport infrastructure projects in Baltic Sea area were awarded financial support from the European Union.
The Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor project is developing hydrogen infrastructure connecting Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and German markets. The Nordic Hydrogen Route project is developing a hydrogen infrastructure between Finland and Sweden along the coastline of the Bothnian Bay. The Baltic Sea Hydrogen Collector project is developing an offshore hydrogen infrastructure to connect the Finnish, Swedish and Central European markets. These three projects aim to create excellent investment conditions for clean electricity, hydrogen and hydrogen processing plants nationally and in the wider Baltic Sea Region.
Source: Energiequelle
