Fortum Oyj : Exploring the lessons of hydrogen production – this is the Kalla test center

Piloting is essential to ensure successful and safe commercial operations

Piloting hydrogen production on a small scale is needed to gather project planning and execution learnings before committing to larger commercial projects. At the Kalla test center, we aim to create safety measures and instructions for safe, efficient and flexible hydrogen production. We look forward to gaining hands-on operational experience and a proof-of-concept for potential future scale-up. Key questions to be answered during the pilot are how to harness the benefits from different electrolyser technologies, how to ensure operational efficiency and commercial viability of hydrogen, as well as how to operate the plant long-term in a flexible manner.

P2X is a term used for the transformation of electricity into another form of energy - and back to electricity if needed. The current timeline allows us to gain learnings and early expertise in hydrogen production while evaluating and exploring the e-derivatives space.

Fortum's strategic priorities are to deliver reliable clean energy and drive decarbonization in industries in the Nordics

Climate changeis a fundamental threat to our existence that forces us to move away from fossil-based energy production and consumption. There are many industrial sectors, like the steel industry and heavy transportation, where there are only a few alternative routes for reducing emissions when direct electrification is not possible. Out of these options, hydrogen is clearly the most feasible and mature solution. Hydrogen can be used in industrial processes either directly or through e-derivatives, where hydrogen is combined for example with a CO₂ molecule making it into e-methanol or e-methane.

Hydrogen production requires a considerable amount of clean electricity. EU regulation, mainly driven by the RED III directive, is driving the need for new renewable power production to secure clean hydrogen production. This RFNBO (Renewable fuels of Non-Biologic Origin) certification determines the need for additional renewables. Here, the Nordics have a significant opportunity to address the European hydrogen market, with a clean electricity grid and available resources such as water and biogenic CO₂. As hydrogen production requires a huge amount of clean electricity, Fortum has a competitive advantage and a unique ability to supply energy on a large scale to hydrogen-producing customers.

In addition to being used as a fuel, hydrogen is a significant source of flexibility. It's an energy carrier that can be utilized for grid balancing. Fortum's own simulation and optimization tool development increases understanding in spot optimization and finding the best production profiles and locations for different customer needs.

Furthermore, electrolysers generate excess heat as a byproduct of the process. We can help our customers with P2X system integration in heat production, helping industrial partners to decarbonise their heating and cooling systems while at the same time improving the overall efficiency of the process.

We explore business opportunities in P2X

P2Xis identified as an exploration area in Fortum Group's strategy and it can act as the basis for future electricity demand growth changing electricity market dynamics. Strong development work for European-wide hydrogen infrastructure also offers promising possibilities to serve wider energy and chemical markets in the future and utilize Nordic electricity market potential with a more versatile end-product.