BotH₂nia went to Pirkanmaa - and what did we learn?

Two quotes from last Tuesday:

“In many cases, Pirkanmaa or the Tampere Region is number two compared with other Finnish cities. In attractiveness, we’re number one. In hydrogen economy, not - yet.” – Matti Lipsanen, Regional Development Director at the Council of Tampere Region, welcoming the BotH2nia goes Pirkanmaa Field Tour at 8.30 a.m.

“One benefit of our common project with Tampereen Energia is that it makes Tampere a major pioneer in promoting the hydrogen economy.” – Lauri Puro, Head of Project Development at Ren-Gas, closing the tour at 16.45.

Listening to the speakers at the Vetyvoorumi seminar the following day was an opportunity to be even more convinced of some of the insights:

• The hydrogen economy did not appear out of nowhere around 2021. Its rise is part of a continuum in which an increasing share of energy use has been and will be electrified. This trend is driven by the need to decouple from introducing additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Electricity is easier to produce than heat without emissions.
• Those who saw this set out to develop solutions for this ten years ago. The work was done in energy-related projects led by research institutes, with many forward-thinking companies investing at least a listening ear, with their own product development.
• These solutions did not yet rely on hydrogen. Now that we have observed how those plans were realised and have been in operation for four years in Lempäälä, for example, we can see how ready and useful a platform they are for the new opportunities that hydrogen brings.
• Hydrogen will connect new, integrated, intelligent energy networks to other industrial sectors. In Lempäälä, too, it looks as if the first step will be transport. Immediately afterwards, there will be linkages to heavy manufacturing industries such as steel, chemicals and forestry.
• The value chains of the hydrogen economy are so diverse that there will be strengths in every location to connect to them. Tampere Region doesn’t need to worry about better wind conditions on the coast. There is a lot of know-how to be drawn from its industrial history and research expertise, which is in demand in the hydrogen value chains.
• From 2025, hydrogen projects will move from tens of megawatts to hundreds of megawatts. Tampere will be among the first. From now until then, these projects will provide pioneers with the experience and lessons learned to compete in the global gigawatt class. They are worth all our support to sustain in that race.
• The golden moment to find competencies specific to our Nordic countries and join forces to create a globally attractive offering is now. Being hospitable in sharing our projects is crucial here. The BotH₂nia network, open to all, takes its hat off and thanks the event organisers in the Tampere Region for their hospitality.

Pirkanmaa and the rest of the Nordics will benefit from hearing a foreign speaker at the Vetyvoorumi. After learning about our situation, he said, "You are sitting on a gold mine".

Original article was published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/both2nia-went-pirkanmaa-what-did-we-learn-dr-minna-n%2525C3%2525A4sman%3FtrackingId=1Dxy7mzoS7KhbrrotBnarg%253D%253D/?trackingId=1Dxy7mzoS7KhbrrotBnarg%3D%3D