Targeting the marine & aviation sectors as its customer base, the 40-megawatt green methanol production facility, to be erected in the Iiksenvaara industrial area in Joensuu, has received an investment grant of €60 million.
In 2022, the European Commission (COM) added the Joensuu plant to the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) list, which now enabled providing the grant through the COM's Recovery and Resilience Facility (allocated by a national funding mechanism managed by Business Finland).
If the project gets a green-light final investment decision, possibly this year, it'll be constructed next to a bio-power plant of Savon Voima, from which it'll source biogenic CO2 for combining it with renewable hydrogen into e-methanol (in return providing waste heat transferred to the Joensuu district heating network).
"This investment grant will significantly promote the development of the European and Finnish synthetic fuels market and move us closer to the investment decision of the Joensuu plant. In addition, it is an important step in strengthening the vitality of Eastern Finland and the hydrogen value chain. We are proud to be pioneers in developing the production of e-methanol in Finland through a trailblazing circular economy cooperation with Savon Voima," commented Herkko Plit, P2X Solutions' CEO.
Lassi Noponen, Director General of Business Finland, added, "This project is significant for the whole of Finland, and Business Finland's funding decision is also historically large in its scale. There are numerous hydrogen production investment projects in the pipeline, but not many have reached the finish line yet. There are always risks associated with constructing something new, but our expectations are high, as P2X Solutions has already proven its ability to launch commercial production of green hydrogen as a pioneer [the 20-MW Harjavalta site is up & running as of this year]. The public support granted by Business Finland is important at this stage to allow hydrogen production to be scaled up in stages to larger, commercially viable plant sizes."
P2X Solutions, together with Oulun Energia, is also exploring the possibility of building a green hydrogen up-to-100MW-capacity production plant in Oulu.
Photo (the Harjavalta plant): P2X Solutions