Hydrogen project gets half a billion

The money comes from the EU's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF Energy). The projects will build a hydrogen infrastructure to facilitate the energy transition and increase Sweden's energy independence and security of supply.

“This is a very pleasing announcement for Sweden and Swedish industry. The co-financing is an important part of developing an efficient hydrogen infrastructure that contributes to the industry's transition,” says Björn Santana Arvidsson, Deputy CEO of Nordion Energi H2.

The Nordic Hydrogen Route (NHR) project will receive EUR 29 million. It will build a 130-mile hydrogen pipeline from Vaasa in Finland around the Gulf of Bothnia to Örnsköldsvik on the Swedish side. It also includes a branch up to Kiruna. The pipeline is a collaboration between Sweden's Nordion Energi and Gasgrid Finland. In the EU's evaluation of the projects, NHR received a score of 24 out of 25 possible points. The project is in line with the Swedish government's strategy and Svenska kraftnät's mission to co-plan the infrastructure for electricity and hydrogen.

With the EU funding, the project can be developed to the next phase, with the first parts to be operational by 2030.

The second project, the Baltic Sea Hydrogen Collector (BHC), has been awarded €15 million for a hydrogen pipeline in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Germany, a collaboration between Gasgrid Finland, the Danish Copenhagen Energy Islands (CEI) and Nordion Energi. In the next step, an interconnection between Sweden and Finland is planned at the height of the Åland Islands.

Lennart Håkansson

editor@northswedenbusiness.com