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VEO is all in on making Finland’s new hydrogen strategy come true

maj 9, 2023

In February, the outgoing Finnish government announced its objectives for Finland’s hydrogen economy strategy. Finland’s goal is to produce one million tons of pure hydrogen by 2030, which is one tenth of the EU’s planned production goal of ten million tons of hydrogen. The goal is ambitious, but if realized, it will be a significant achievement in terms of Finland’s competitiveness and an important act for the future of our planet.

There are plenty of benefits to hydrogen. Emission-free hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives can replace fossil fuels both in transportation and in industry, effectively reducing their carbon dioxide emissions. Hydrogen production is also excellent for storing surplus electricity from renewable energy, which contributes to increasing our country’s energy security and self-sufficiency. Furthermore, hydrogen can also balance the electricity system and even out electricity price fluctuations.

Green transition investments enable the goals of the hydrogen strategy

Finland’s hydrogen strategy is based on the green transition: on renewable energy and green electricity production. A substantive proportion of renewable energy is, in fact, one of the reasons why Finland is of interest to international hydrogen investors. However, to reach the Finnish million-ton hydrogen goal, up to 50 TWh more electricity per year is needed (Finland’s entire consumption is currently around 80 TWh/year), which requires significant additional investments in electricity production, especially in wind and solar power.

Realising the Finnish hydrogen strategy requires strong commitment of all stakeholders as well as investments in the main grid and the gas transmission network. Hydrogen is a small-molecule gas, which is challenging to move from one place to another. For this reason, we will likely also see investments in production facilities of hydrogen-based derivatives, such as e-methane and e-ammonia, which are much easier to transport than hydrogen.

VEO believes in the new Finnish hydrogen strategy and we offer our comprehensive expertise in implementing it

An important trump card in the global hydrogen economy is Finland’s electricity transmission capacity. At VEO, we have taken part in building this capacity for decades – especially in renewable energy. With an installed base of 7,000 MW, we are the market leader in renewable energy grid connections in Nordic countries. Our modular substation concept, which flexibly, reliably and cost-effectively guarantees the network connections of both power plants and industrial plants, is well-suited also for the electrical connections of hydrogen plants.

In hydrogen plants and hydrogen derivative production plants, our extensive and long experience in large electrification and automation projects comes into its own. Our automation solutions guarantee optimal plant operation and include all necessary cyber security and IOT services. If the waste heat generated from hydrogen production is recovered as district heat, we can also offer our accumulated know-how from having worked on many heat recovery projects. Furthermore, we are intently working on developing and implementing energy storage solutions suitable for new hydrogen projects.

With VEO’s expertise, the electricity needed in hydrogen plants can be transmitted from the electricity production to the main grid and onto hydrogen plants and hydrogen derivative production plants. What is more, our automation and electrification solutions enable efficient plant operations, heat recovery and energy storage. All of VEO’s expertise is at disposal as we now together start implementing Finland’s hydrogen strategy.