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18 February 2022 | Article

From ideation to project plan

A second seminar for the project H2 Ecosystem Roadmap (for Ostrobothnia) was arranged remotely on 10 February 2022. Kaisa Penttilä, from Hanken, acted as moderator, and the central objective was to gain deeper insights into the process from ideation to project planning within the hydrogen theme.

Text:
Emma Buss & Kaisa Penttilä, Hanken School of Economics

From ideation to project plan

The H2 Ecosystem Roadmap for Ostrobothnia is one of several ongoing local hydrogen projects in Finland. Local projects exchange experiences within the national hydrogen network for public actors, which makes them BotH₂nia partners. Therefore, their insights are shared with a wider public, including on this website. This blog post was written by Emma Buss and Kaisa Penttilä from Hanken School of Economics, and it is also published on the projects’ homepage, h2ecosystem.org.

Rich insights were collected during the seminar on 10 February 2022

A second seminar for the project H2 Ecosystem Roadmap (for Ostrobothnia) was arranged remotely on 10 February 2022. Kaisa Penttilä, from Hanken, acted as moderator, and the central objective was to gain deeper insights into the process from ideation to project planning within the hydrogen theme. Almost 80 participants were present and a good spirit was observed among the audience during the workshop. Before the seminar started, Kjell-Owe Ahlskog, from Alcea, presented the report The role of small- and medium-sized companies in a future global hydrogen ecosystem (available in Swedish and Finnish).

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Five cases were presented and later discussed in smaller groups. Kenneth Widell from Wärtsilä and Niko Toppari from EPV presented the first case, H-Flex-E (Hydrogen Flexibility Energy) – a joint venture co-created by Wärtsilä, EPV, Vaasan Sähkö and the City of Vaasa.

The essence of this project is the volatility in the electricity market. When electricity prices are low, electricity is transformed into hydrogen through electrolysis. The hydrogen is stored pressurised and then, when electricity prices go up, it can be used in gas engines to produce electricity, Widell explained. Industry synergies are also created through utilising the excess heat produced at different points in the process.

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The second case was about REH2, presented by Martina Wettin from Nilsson Energy.

Together with the Swedish state and the Swedish Protection Agency, Nilsson Energy has invested in building a completely national network of 24 hydrogen refuelling stations. This will happen quickly, and in 2025 all of these will be in place at RASTA service stations, Wettin explained.

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The third case was about Kanäs port and industrial area, with its old oil caverns and the possibility for large-scale hydrogen storage. It was presented by Mats Brandt from the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia.

There is good infrastructure linking the cavern site to the original power grid. However, the big question in this case is how the cavern can be transformed from a fossil fuel facility to a more sustainable solution. Is hydrogen a viable option or should the owners look at other alternatives? Brandt challenged the participants to give their input on options for the municipality to move forward with the case.

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The fourth case was presented by Rasmus Hautala, representing the regional companies Dynamo Närpes and Kristiinan kaupungin elinkeinokeskus.

According to VEBIC (formerly the Levon Institute), Kristiinankaupunki will become 300% self-sufficient in energy, mainly through wind power and bioenergy fuels. Can a hydrogen ecosystem be the solution? And if so, what would happen with this hydrogen and who should buy the electrolysers? These were some of the challenges pointed out by Hautala.

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The last case was about a digital solution for market synergies. Ashkan Fredström and Emma Buss, from Hanken, explained that a market platform unifying hydrogen producers and consumers could facilitate a future hydrogen market.

We could start with a minimum viable system that could become more established, Fredström explained.

After the case presentations, all participants were divided into one of the groups to discuss the cases together with the case owners and facilitators. Sixty-five participants worked on brainstorming around the challenges and next steps, focusing on each particular case.

Each group had lively discussions and many interesting insights were shared when the facilitators presented the results of the workshop discussions to the webinar participants.

The seminar ended with presentations and a panel discussion on how to take the next steps for these kinds of projects.

Krishnaswamy Sankaran, Radical Innovations Group AB, presented some of their ongoing work internationally and emphasised that the EU and national governments want to fund the development of ecosystems that have a commercially proven idea that can result in job creation and revenue.

Idea owners should not try to invent the wheel again but instead utilise expert help to build these ecosystems. Complementarity between actors that join a project is essential, because there is also a political aspect to the projects. You need to have the right collaborators on board to get your voice heard at the EU level, Sankaran pointed out.

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Timo Ropponen, Spinverse, talked about how they work with clients who are willing to create new business where innovation constitutes a strong element and where there are clear opportunities for scaling these up for the global market.

We arrange innovation challenges and hackathons, for example, and can later on take on ecosystem management to help these ecosystems flourish. You can set up ecosystems, but keeping them alive is the challenge, Ropponen explained.

Matti Rautkivi from Nordic Ren-Gas Oy, presented examples of their ongoing projects in Finland, which will make it possible for whole cities to have a negative carbon footprint.

Finland is the best place to further develop the sustainable transition from the perspective of hydrogen. However, we need to have the motors to who build these innovative business models. The most important thing is that you have a clear focus and strategy, that you put together an excellent team and you execute it, Rautkivi emphasised.

We want to thank all the participants, case owners, facilitators and speakers for taking part in this event. Next up is Energy Week, which will be held on 21–25 March, and another workshop as part of the H2 Ecosystem Roadmap (for Ostrobothnia) project is planned for early June 2022.