Liquid Wind sets plan in motion for its first eMethanol plant in Finland
Liquid Wind sets plan in motion for its first eMethanol plant in Finland - Offshore Energy
Liquid Wind sets plan in motion for its first eMethanol plant in Finland
Swedish electrofuel developer Liquid Wind has formed a partnership with Finnish companies Kanteleen Voima and Piipsan Tuulivoima to prepare a feasibility study for setting up its first facility for producing eMethanol in Haapavesi, Finland.
On 12 December, the parties announced the signing of a letter of intent, indicating the starting point of a close cooperation to develop clean energy solutions in Haapavesi, and taking a major step towards accelerating the production capacity of electrofuel in Finland.
The facility is projected to be adjacent to the biorefinery site planned by Kanteleen Voima’s subsidiary NorfFuel and will be powered by renewable energy from a new onshore wind park that will be built and operated by Piipsan Tuulivoima, and NordFuel’s biorefinery project will be developed in parallel.
Claes Fredriksson, CEO and Founder of Liquid Wind, commented on the project: “We are excited to announce the development of our first project in Finland, together with NordFuel and Puhuri. Liquid Wind is focused on leading the development and production of green electrofuel. The electrofuel produced in Haapavesi will be used to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries like shipping; with the facility in Finland, we are one step closer to seeing a world without dependency on fossil fuels.”
Matti Asikainen, CEO of NordFuel, said: “We are glad to cooperate with Liquid Wind, one of the most significant actors in the field of electrofuels. Circular economy and zero-waste principle are in the core of NordFuel’s business idea. Liquid Wind’s technology enables us to utilize the carbon dioxide that will come out of the biorefinery’s process the most effective way possible. The industrial infrastructure in Haapavesi offers an excellent basis for the planned electrofuel facility.”
Through its partnership with Alfa Laval, Carbon Clean, Siemens Energy, and Topsoe, Liquid Wind plans to develop and market ten additional eMethanol facilities in the Nordics by 2027.
Currently, Liquid Wind is developing two electrofuel facilities in Sweden that will supply the maritime industry with electrofuels. Namely, FlagshipTWO, is being developed in Sundsvall with production planned to start at the end of 2025, and FlagshipTHREE, in Umeå, which is expected to start producing in 2026.
Liquid Wind’s first electrofuel project FlagshipONE was acquired by Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted in December 2022. The construction of the facility in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, began in May 2023.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.