France-headed green hydrogen project developer Verso Energy SA has disclosed that it is reserving a site for a proposed new plant to produce green hydrogen and synthetic fuels at the Port of Oulu, northern Finland.
Founded in 2021 by Xavier Caïtucoli, former co-founder of Direct Energie, and Antoine Huard, former Managing Director of Générale du Solaire International, the purpose of Verso Energy is to develop, finance, and operate projects for the production and storage of renewable electricity and carbon-free hydrogen.
The central idea is to promote the integration of renewable energies by providing flexibility, via hydrogen production or storage in batteries. Verso Energy has already launched several projects in France to build hydrogen and synthetic fuel plants.
Verso Energy’s synthetic fuel production in France will be based on the company’s renewable hydrogen production and carbon dioxide (CO2) recovered from sources such as pulp and paper mills close to the plant.
The company plans to offer its synthetic fuels for aviation and shipping.
We are interested in building a plant for high value-added production in Oulu because the region provides an abundance of affordable renewable energy and biogenic carbon dioxide. The University of Oulu, with its extensive research into hydrogen, alongside the large R&D investments in the area, ensures a sufficient talent pool. The existing business ecosystem also offers us potential customers and subcontractors. As part of the TEN-T core transport network, the Port of Oulu, with its rail and road links, provides good connections to the rest of the world, said Antoine Huard, CEO of Verso Energy.
Ideal location
Electricity in Finland is among the cheapest in Europe. In the first half of 2024, the price of electricity for non-household customers in Finland was the lowest in the EU (EUR 0.0939 per kWh).
The Oulu region is the largest producer of renewable electricity in Finland.
Other hydrogen production and derivative projects have already been initiated in the Oulu region.
Gasgrid Finland is planning to establish a hydrogen transport infrastructure to connect Oulu’s hydrogen production with the rest of Finland and other European countries.
We warmly welcome Verso Energy to Oulu. The project’s financing is well organized, and the company is supported by the financial resources of its owners. They also have a proven record of raising substantial funding for other projects, said Veikko Lehtinen, City Geodesist from the City of Oulu.
Northern Power unveiling
Verso Energy stresses that this land reservation is only a preliminary decision; a final investment decision (FID) will be made at a later stage. The project is expected to create a significant number of jobs in the Oulu region, and the scale of the investment is substantial.
According to Verso Energy, AFRY Finland, an expert in evaluating the operators, has assessed the likelihood of the project’s realization as high, and that the company has a clear business plan and focus.
Verso Energy says that it will reveal details about the project at the Northern Power event in Oulu on February 13, 2025.
Northern Power will bring together hundreds of international industry leaders, innovators, researchers, and policymakers to discuss the future of hydrogen energy in the Nordic region.
