Commercialised hydrogen in Berlevåg
“The famous chicken and egg situation is still present, but with this investment, we aim to be the chicken in our region.”
Varanger KraftHydrogen has been vigorous since the Cluster catch-up edition in November 2021. They recently announced that they made an investment decision to commercialize compressed hydrogen from 2024.
With the big news of the commercialization of hydrogen in Berlevåg, we had a chat with CEO Christian Bue on Varanger KraftHydrogen’s plans for the future.
Congratulations on making the final investment decision! What have been the most important barriers to pass to be able to make the decision?
Thank you! This is an important milestone for us and enables a smooth transition from the R&D phase we have been in for the past years, to a commercial phase starting in 2024. The market for compressed hydrogen is still in development, and has taken longer than first anticipated to mature. The steps to reaching this milestone has largely been related to confidence in the market and building good partnerships through the value chain. Based on support from Innovation Norway, we are now able to make the investment. The famous chicken and egg situation is still present, but with this investment we aim to be the chicken in our region. We hope that this will create predictability for the market and potential offtakers who are evaluating hydrogen as their green energy source in the future, Christan Bue, CEO of Varanger KraftHydrogen says.
What are Varanger KraftHydrogen’s plans for 2023?
Christian Bue, CEO of Varanger KraftHydrogen.
There is still some work to be done through the EU project Haeolus. We will continue this in parallel in getting the compressor and infrastructure installed through 2023. Further maturation of the market and our partnerships will be in high focus to be ready for hydrogen sale early in 2024.
We are working with Norwegian Hydrogen to establish refuelling stations in the region, and hope to share more details on this and other partnerships in the coming year.
Varanger KraftHydrogen also has the concession for step 3 of the Raggovidda wind farm (103 MW) and is developing new possible wind resources in the region. The last focus area of the company is the joint venture with Aker Horizons, Green Ammonia Berlevåg, where we are planning for a large-scale ammonia factory in Berlevåg. So 2023 will be an interesting year for us, he says.
What is your biggest challenges going forward?
Ideally, we would have seen even stronger politics for transitioning into green fuels, and hope to see improvements here in the coming time. The cost of purchasing green-fueled “vessels”, be it boats or industrial machinery, is still too high for most sectors. The same goes for the infrastructure required to establish fuel stations and similar. We believe that we need stronger mechanisms to lower this risk to be able to hold Norway’s position in the shift towards a greener future.
For larger projects, there is also a big challenge in Norway when it comes to grid capacity. A strong focus on utilizing existing grid infrastructure in a more optimal way, as well as taking a more proactive approach towards new power grid, is imperative for Norway to be able to make the necessary transition as well as enabling a new green industry in Norway. We have a positive view on the future and have the impression that the politicians have understood the dire situation for both risk-mitigating solutions and the grid, and believe that they will soon come with good solutions to drive the necessary change forward, Bue enthusiastically ends.
