Finnish Hydro­gen Del­e­ga­tion Explores Estonia’s Progress in the Hydro­gen Econ­o­my

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from Finnish com­pa­nies, research orga­ni­za­tions, and region­al devel­op­ment actors vis­it­ed Esto­nia to gain first-hand insights into one of the Baltic region’s fastest-grow­ing hydro­gen ecosys­tems. The pro­gramme high­light­ed new oppor­tu­ni­ties for cross-bor­der col­lab­o­ra­tion in hydro­gen pro­duc­tion, clean ener­gy infra­struc­ture, indus­tri­al decar­boniza­tion, and research.

Finnish hydro­gen del­e­ga­tion (Siemens Esto­nia, Vaisala, Jou­ka, Ins­ta Automa­tion, Oulun Ener­gia, Linde Gas AS, Viafin Ser­vice, Jensen Hugh­es Fin­land, H2 Clus­ter Fin­land, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu and Busi­nes­sOulu), vis­it­ed Esto­nia to explore its rapid­ly devel­op­ing hydro­gen ecosys­tem, exchange knowl­edge, and strength­en future Finnish-Eston­ian coop­er­a­tion across the hydro­gen val­ue chain. The del­e­ga­tion received an overview of the Eston­ian hydro­gen land­scape from Hydro­gen Val­ley Esto­nia and the Eston­ian par­tic­i­pants learned about ongo­ing Finnish, the North­ern Ostro­both­nia and Oulu region activ­i­ties through H2Cluster Fin­land, Both2nia ry and Busi­nes­sOulu.  

Vis­its to Lead­ing Hydro­gen Tech­nol­o­gy Com­pa­nies

The del­e­ga­tion vis­it­ed Elco­gen, a com­pa­ny with oper­a­tions in both Esto­nia and Fin­land that devel­ops sol­id oxide fuel cell and elec­trol­y­sis tech­nolo­gies and man­u­fac­tures sol­id oxide cells, stacks, and mod­ules. Then del­e­ga­tion also vis­it­ed Star­gate Hydro­gen, an Eston­ian elec­trol­yser tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­ny (advanced alka­line alka­line stacks and sys­tems) whose solu­tions are also being deployed in Fin­land, includ­ing For­tum’s hydro­gen pro­duc­tion test facil­i­ty in Lovi­isa. The com­pa­ny has recent­ly inau­gu­rat­ed fac­to­ry in Tallinn, with 2300 m² fac­to­ry floor, in-house stack and sys­tem assem­bly, as well as up to 140MW pro­duc­tion capac­i­ty, and has been suc­cess­ful­ly devel­op­ing com­mer­cial part­ner­ships. 

At the Util­i­tas Väo ener­gy com­plex, Star­gate Hydro­gen hydro­gen pro­duc­tion facil­i­ty was show­cased, where clean hydro­gen is already being pro­duced and used by the Bolt’s taxi fleet and hydro­gen trucks.  

The del­e­ga­tion was also wel­comed to the Embassy of Fin­land in Tallinn by Ambas­sador Han­nu Heinonen. Dur­ing the Sem­i­nar, Tal­Tech – Tallinn Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy pre­sent­ed its new small-scale pow­er sys­tems lab­o­ra­to­ry. Inno­va­tion was fur­ther show­cased by Sky­corp Tech­nolo­gies, which has devel­oped a hydro­gen-pow­ered drone capa­ble of achiev­ing flight times sig­nif­i­cant­ly longer than com­pa­ra­ble bat­tery-pow­ered drones. Derivaat NH3’s intro­duced their plans to devel­op a green ammo­nia pro­duc­tion facil­i­ty in Esto­nia. 

Strength­en­ing Finnish-Eston­ian Col­lab­o­ra­tion

Oulu Ener­gy Com­pa­ny pre­sent­ed plans for a 100 MW green hydro­gen pro­duc­tion facil­i­ty in Oulu. “Our goal is to build an inte­grat­ed ener­gy ecosys­tem that com­bines indus­tri­al elec­tri­fi­ca­tion, green tran­si­tion indus­tries, ener­gy infra­struc­ture, and new busi­ness mod­els. Through close col­lab­o­ra­tion between stake­hold­ers, we can reduce project risks, attract invest­ments, and cre­ate long-term val­ue for com­pa­nies, com­mu­ni­ties, and investors,” said Kim­mo Alat­ulkki­la, Head of New Busi­ness at Oulu Ener­gy. 

The del­e­ga­tion vis­it­ed the Port of Tallinn to learn about its plans to reduce car­bon emis­sions and devel­op the port into a green ener­gy hub.  Col­lab­o­ra­tion through con­crete inter­na­tion­al projects with Nordic, Baltic, and Ger­man part­ners cre­ates a strong foun­da­tion for devel­op­ing and scal­ing new ini­tia­tives. 

As part of the Busi­nes­sOulu pro­gramme, the del­e­ga­tion con­clud­ed its vis­it with a trip to UP Cat­a­lyst, an inno­v­a­tive Eston­ian com­pa­ny that pro­duces high-val­ue car­bon nano­ma­te­ri­als and bat­tery-grade graphite from cap­tured car­bon diox­ide. UP Cat­a­lyst and Oulun Ener­gia signed a Let­ter of Intent (LOI) in June 2026 to explore oppor­tu­ni­ties for scal­ing up the pro­duc­tion of syn­thet­ic graphite and car­bon nan­otubes in Fin­land. The meet­ing pro­vid­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty to fur­ther elab­o­rate the poten­tial next steps of the col­lab­o­ra­tion.  

Dur­ing dis­cus­sions through­out the vis­it, Eston­ian stake­hold­ers expressed inter­est in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu’s exper­tise in catal­y­sis research and bat­tery val­ue chain devel­op­ment, par­tic­u­lar­ly in graphitic car­bon anodes, hard car­bon mate­ri­als, and hydro­gen-relat­ed tech­nolo­gies. Inter­est was fur­ther strength­ened by the university’s upcom­ing bat­tery lab­o­ra­to­ry, sched­uled to open in ear­ly 2027, which will pro­vide advanced facil­i­ties for bat­tery cell pro­duc­tion, test­ing, and the devel­op­ment of next-gen­er­a­tion bat­tery mate­ri­als. 

The vis­it high­light­ed numer­ous oppor­tu­ni­ties for increased coop­er­a­tion between Finnish and Eston­ian orga­ni­za­tions in areas includ­ing hydro­gen pro­duc­tion, clean ener­gy infra­struc­ture, research, mobil­i­ty, and indus­tri­al decar­boniza­tion. The del­e­ga­tion extends its sin­cere thanks to Enter­prise Esto­nia and all par­tic­i­pat­ing orga­ni­za­tions.  

The next Finnish Eston­ian research and busi­ness get-togeth­er will take place in Oulu dur­ing the Nordic Hydro­gen Week dur­ing 15–17 Feb­ru­ary 2027. 

Con­tact: Janne Hietanie­mi, Indus­try and Cleantech, Busi­nes­sOulu. Mob + 358 40 649 1211, email janne.hietaniemi@businessoulu.com. 

Text: Hei­ni Malm, Busi­nes­sOulu & Janne Hietanie­mi, Busi­nes­sOulu