Gasgrid Finland mandated to promote hydrogen infrastructure development
June 28, 2022The Finnish government is also mandating that this occurs on both a national and international level.
The government of Finland has opted to mandate Gasgrid Finland to promote domestic hydrogen infrastructure development and international cooperation.
The state-owned company must also promote the H2 market throughout the H2 market in the Baltic Sea Region.
Gasgrid Finland must not only begin focusing on the national and international hydrogen infrastructure and regional market, but it is also required to do so as soon as possible. The company is responsible for Finnish natural gas transmission.
Moving forward, that company’s strategic interest will also involve the development of H2 transmission as well as that of H2 derivatives. It will be responsible for the necessary infrastructure for that transmission, and for ensuring disruption-free, reliable operation. Gasgrid will found a subsidiary called VetyVerkko to uphold this responsibility.
The new hydrogen infrastructure responsibility will accelerate Gasgrid Finland’s existing project development.
Through the new mandates, Gasgrid Finland will have the opportunity to place a greater focus on the development of projects it has already started and that are currently underway. This includes the Nordic Hydrogen Route – Bothnian Bay, a cross-border project between that country and Sweden. The goal is to establish a pipeline network within the region of Bothnia Bay.
In order to promote an H2 economy’s development, Gasgrid Finland has also launched an H2 transmission demo project targeting the use of H2 byproduct from Kemira at Ovako’s Imatra mill. This project will build on knowledge and experience regarding real-world use and application of this zero-emission fuel, to allow the company to better serve the development necessary for a hydrogen economy.
“Finland has excellent wind power resources, highly competitive electricity price and stable social structure. Advanced energy networks will enable Finland’s competitiveness on the global market in the creation of value chains, investments, and jobs in the hydrogen economy,” said Olli Sipilä, CEO at Gasgrid Finland, in a recent news release about the new government hydrogen infrastructure mandates.
“The latest European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) analysis shows that the potential of the region of Finland, Sweden and the Baltic countries, i.e. the supply corridor D, is significant. The potential market size of the region is estimated to be 127 TWh per year already in 2030, which corresponds to about 20% of REPowerEU targets for hydrogen and about 38% of the target of domestic hydrogen produced in EU. Hydrogen economy is therefore a very significant opportunity to the countries around the Baltic Sea with great renewable energy resources, space, and forerunner position in development of sustainable technology solutions,” added Sara Kärki, Gasgrid Finland Head of Strategic Analysis & RDI in the same release.
Please see my “Pipelining Hydrogen …” paper presented at 28th World Gas Conference, Daegu, Korea, 23-27 May: https://www.leightyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/William_Leighty-REVC-6June22.pdf
We don’t know how to safely and profitably pipeline gaseous hydrogen (GH2), whether blended with natural gas or as high-purity hydrogen, because of the risk of hydrogen embrittlement of pipeline steel. Therefore, both European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) and Gasgrid Finland are in no position to proceed with “Gasgrid Finland mandated to promote hydrogen infrastructure development” without conducting the major R&D programs suggested in our above World Gas Conference paper.