The national hydrogen network visited Vaasa and the Vaasa region the 11th of November 2021. The program included i.a. a hydrogen seminar arranged in Hanken´s auditorium, organized by Vaasa Region Development Company VASEK and the H2 Ecosystem Roadmap project. The discussion after the presentations was lively and a lot of new contacts were made. The whole day clearly brought all positive aspects of networking.

Juha Alopaeus (i the picture above) from Hitachi Energy presented for instance a solution in form of a hydrogen tank that would be located next to windmill parks. These in turn, could supply vehicles with hydrogen as a fuel instead of diesel, and thus be better for the environment.

Olli-Pekka Aalto (in the picture above) from Danfoss talked about the company's ongoing hydrogen project and how the hydrogen market will continue to grow. In the near future, the capacity of their projects is expected to grow so fast that projects of 250 MW and gigawatts will be introduced. Aalto also emphasized that a lot of product development is required to keep up with this growing market.

Kaisa Penttilä and Joakim Berg

Joakim Berg from Wasagroup presented the company's vision of emission-free buildings and transport. Buildings are crucial for the environmental changes as they stand for more than 35 percent of all CO2-emissions. Wasagroup is planning a first pilot project for a container-based hydrogen system that could be scaled up based on the size of the building. Berg believes that regulations regarding hydrogen storage and its size can cause challenges as the project proceeds.

Berndt Schalin (in the picture above) from Flexens talked about the plans for electrifying the mobility on Åland Islands. For example, archipelago ferries running on hydrogen would be useful if the journey takes more than one hour. However, if the journey would take more than three to four hours, the hydrogen tanks on board would be too heavy.

In the end of the seminar, Kaisa Penttilä, one of the project co-leaders for the H2 Ecosystem Roadmap project, started a discussion about how we could work together to promote the development of the hydrogen economy, the region's green transition and carbon neutrality goals. The discussion that arose about the challenges and opportunities of the ecosystem became lively.

Regulation and licensing issues were emphasized during the discussion. For permits to work effectively and fairly, both in terms of area and land use planning, it is important that civil servants participate in a sufficiently early stage of the process. Sharing knowledge was also considered important to eliminate misunderstandings.

The next hydrogen-related workshop will take place in the end of January or in the beginning of February 2022. Stay updated by visiting the project H2 Ecosystem Roadmap's website.