Fortum will build a H₂ production pilot plant in Loviisa. The plant will be located in the Källa area near Fortum’s Loviisa nuclear power plant on a plot owned by the company. The construction of the Kalla test center will begin in the summer of 2024, and the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in late 2025. 

H₂ will be produced by electrolyzers, by using electricity to split water into H₂ and oxygen, with a capacity of around two megawatts from the main grid and using local household water in Loviisa. A filling station will be built in connection with the plant for the delivery of H₂ to industrial customers. The Kalla test center is funded entirely from Fortum’s research and development funds, and the design work is mostly carried out by in-house designers. The Kalla test center is expected to be in operation for around two years between 2025 and 2028. The total R&D cost of the pilot project is around €17 MM. According to Fortum’s strategy, the company will stepwise explore H₂ through small-scale projects in the Nordics.

“Testing H₂ production at the Kalla test center on a megawatt scale will provide valuable information not only in terms of the design and operation of potential larger plants, but also of the business opportunities provided by green H₂ and H₂ derivatives. The pilot project is the first step towards possible future projects and investments. In addition to the test center, we also have other H₂-related studies underway that involve customers and partners from various industries,” said Satu Sipola, vice president of Power-to-X at Fortum.

H₂ produced using clean electricity can replace fossil fuels and raw materials in many industries, such as the manufacture of steel or fertilizers. Thanks to its chemical properties, H₂ is versatile and can be used for a variety of purposes: it can serve as an energy carrier, replace fossil carbon in steel and iron production, and serve as a sustainable fuel.

“Fortum has a strong position in clean energy production, and we strive to find solutions to help our industrial customers decarbonize their operations. We work to drive the development of clean H₂ in the Nordic countries, and we engage in active research cooperation with companies in the forest, steel and chemical industries and the transport sector, for example,” said Sipola.