Another e-methane plant planned in Finland for shipping demand

Finnish clean energy firm Arctic Sisu will build a 900–950-gigawatt hours (GWh) e-methane production plant in Kotka, Finland.

Kotka partly hosts the Port of Hamina-Kotka, a major seaport on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland.

E-methane, or synthetic methane, is produced by combining green hydrogen generated from renewable electricity, with biogenic or captured CO2 through a process called Sabatier. The resulting product is then liquefied, so it can be used as a bunker fuel.

The fuel can be used on its own or blended with LNG in LNG-capable dual-fuel vessels.

In this case, biogenic CO2 will be captured from the pulp production process at the Kotkamills Pulp & Paper mill, located next to the planned facility. The company has not yet confirmed the source of green hydrogen for this project.

The plant is expected to produce around 900–950 GWh/year (roughly 63,000-66,500 mt/year) of e-methane, with output primarily allocated to maritime demand.

Arctic Sisu plans to take a final investment decision next year. It has commissioned Swedish engineering consultant Afry to conduct a feasibility study for the project, with production planned to start by 2028.

This project follows last week’s announcement by Belgian hydrogen producer Tree Energy Solutions (TES) and project developer CPC Finland to build a 125,000 mt/year e-methane production plant at the Port of Rauma in Finland, targeting final investment decision by 2028.

Norwegian startup Freija Clean Fuel also plans to set up a 58,000 mt/year e-methane production plant by 2029 in the city of Nokia, in Finland’s Tampere region.

By Konica Bhatt

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