The company collected a million pot – now the project plans to revolutionize the energy sectors of six cities

There would be a need for hydrogen-based clean fuels, but the development of projects has slowed down. On Wednesday, they advanced when Clean-Gas– company said it had collected 16 million euros in investments From Taaler, From Tes and from the old owners ie Ilkka Herlinin from the company and the investment giant Allianzilta.

Ren-Gas is planning more than 1.5 billion euros in projects for hydrogen production and its processing into e-methane in several Finnish cities. Money is needed to promote projects in Tampere, Lahti, Kotka, Kerava, Pori and Mikkeli.

“This capital above all supports our growth strategy and portfolio. Each project is an investment project of several hundred million euros, so they involve technical planning costs, commercial planning and related services,” says the CEO of Ren-Gas Saara Kujala.

Ren-Gas has a total of more than 700 megawatts of electrolysis capacity in the project development pipeline, i.e. hydrogen production with low-emission electricity. When carbon dioxide is added to hydrogen, i.e. renewable e-methane is produced, an amount of fuel is produced that corresponds to the annual fuel needs of approximately 7,000 trucks in freight traffic.

Three years ago, in 2022, Ren-Gas’ goal was to realize investments of 1.5 billion euros by 2030. The schedule has been stretched, as is the case with hydrogen projects across the board.

“Certainly a few years ago there were optimistic thoughts that the hydrogen economy would progress faster, but things have recently gone in the right direction and we are really happy about that,” says Kujala.

Tampere will happen first

The company now has the most advanced project in Tampere. of Tammervoima Oy In connection with the Tarastenjärvi power plant, electricity would be used to produce hydrogen, from which the waste heat would be utilized in district heating. The power plant’s carbon dioxide, on the other hand, would be captured and refined from hydrogen into e-methane.

“There, we still have a few commercial agreements that need to be finalized. It will take a few months to finalize everything,” says Kujala.

So, in a few months, you could be ready to make an investment decision. The owners of Ren-Gas, especially investment giant Allianz and Ilkka Herlin, Taaleri and Tesi, are in a decisive position in the decision.

Of course, it is good for the company that a wider owner base and especially private capital from Taaler, whose investment director Antti Salmela justified the investment decision in the press release as follows: “Ren-Gas represents exactly the kind of innovative and sustainable technology we want to invest in. The company’s solutions support the energy transition and reduce emissions significantly.”

The EU directive creates hydrogen demand

According to Kujala, the market has changed for the better during the past year in terms of the company’s projects. He is particularly pleased with the update of the EU’s Red directive, which creates demand for e-methane in road traffic. The directive creates a large market in Europe and the possibility of exporting e-methane from Finland to Central Europe.

“From there, all EU member states will have a national obligation to use hydrogen-based fuels such as e-methane in road traffic. We have noticed since spring that it opens up a really significant export market potential for us,” says Kujala.

According to the directive, the share of hydrogen fuels in transport energy consumption must rise to at least one percent by 2030, i.e. quickly. For example, Germany has set high national fines for fuel distributors if the target is not met. According to Kujala, the demand in Germany alone will be ten times higher than in Finland.

“It is clearly on the horizon that this is a good opportunity for Finland and this European-wide market is now starting to open up.”