October 4 (Renewables Now) - Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (MEAE) on Tuesday awarded EUR 99.8 million (USD 98.7m) of funding to six clean energy projects under Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The projects include two schemes that will use renewable hydrogen to produce electrofuels, two large-scale solar projects and two projects to electrify industrial processes.

Vantaa Energia Oy will receive EUR 30.2 million to invest in a plant producing renewable methane in Vantaa. The 10-MW facility would produce about 80 GWh of renewable methane a year from renewable hydrogen and carbon dioxide separated from the combustion gases in a treatment plant for hazardous waste. Most of the output will be used as a transport fuel and some will replace natural gas in heat production during peak periods.

St1 Oy has been awarded EUR 35.4 million to invest in a renewable methanol plant in Lappeenranta. The 17-MW plant would produce about 138 GWh of renewable methanol per year from renewable hydrogen and carbon dioxide separated from the combustion gases of a cement factory. It is intended to provide renewable fuel for maritime transport and potentially for road transport or the chemical industry.

St1 said in a separate announcement it wants to develop a replicable and scalable synthetic methanol production concept. It noted the ministry's funding decision needs approval from the European Commission.

Ilmatar Energy Oy and Exilion Tuulihankkeet Ky have been granted EUR 19.6 million and EUR 8.9 million, respectively, for projects that integrate solar power with wind power generation and electricity storage. Ilmatar will build a 150-MW solar plant and Exilion Tuulihankkeet will invest in a 70-MW solar installation. Currently, there are no solar power plants of that scale in the Nordic countries, MEAE said.

The announcement also includes two grants of close to EUR 3 million each to Fiskars Finland Oy Ab and Makela Alu Oy for investments in the electrification of industry.

MEAE is to make more aid decisions by the end of 2022. A total of EUR 453.2 million has been reserved for energy investment aid under Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan.

(EUR 1 = USD 0.989)

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