Finland – In order to develop strategies for producing renewable hydrogen, Business Finland granted Neste a public subsidy of EUR 27.7 million for green hydrogen initiatives at Neste’s refinery in Porvoo, Finland.
For its hydrogen projects, Neste became the first Finnish firm to be given IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) designation by the European Commission in July 2022. This gave Neste the opportunity to seek for the currently available public funding. EU IPCEI projects further the strategic goals of the EU and the shared interests of Europeans by funding innovation initiatives throughout the various EU Member States.
The decision to award the money is a part of the first wave of hydrogen IPCEI initiatives in the EU, which aims to advance and hasten the production and use of green hydrogen throughout Europe. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and Business Finland has managed the EU application procedure in Finland. The Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland, which is sponsored by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, includes projects in Finland that deal with the value chain for the hydrogen industry.
Transformation
Neste began a strategy research in September 2022 on how to transform its Porvoo refinery into a top-tier global facility for sustainable and circular solutions. In the middle of the 2030s, if the transformation path were followed, crude oil would be replaced by recycled and renewable raw resources. The shift that is anticipated and Neste’s objective to reach carbon neutral output by 2035 depend heavily on the renewable hydrogen projects the company is working on.
