Finland– Wärtsilä and Vantaa Energy, have signed a co-operation agreement for pre-engineering and development of a Power-to-Gas (P2G) plant for Vantaa Energy.
With a fuel capacity of 10 MW, the plant, which is expected to be operational in 2025, will be Finland’s largest and first to manufacture carbon-neutral, synthetic methane on a commercial scale. Synthetic methane is made from carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere and hydrogen created using renewable energy. The parties agreed to collaborate on a concept study to assess the economics of the Power-to-Gas plant in conjunction with the Vantaa Energy waste-to-energy project in May 2020. The decision to continue the project is based on the findings indicating that the study can be planned and developed further.
Reducing emissions
The European Union has set a shared goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, and has recently increased its emissions reduction target to 55% by 2030. Finland plans to become carbon-neutral by 2035. The plant will be a critical step toward Vantaa Energy’s goal of becoming fossil-free by 2026. Using adaptable technologies to phase out the usage of fossil fuels is a key enabler for carbon-neutral Vantaa Energy in 2030. Vantaa Energy will be able to use power generated from renewable sources to reduce CO2 emissions in district heating, other gas-based uses, and transportation thanks to the Power-to-Gas plant. The initiative illustrates sector linking of heat, energy, and transportation, opening up entirely new economic options for Vantaa Energy.
Producing methane from renewables
Wärtsilä will lead the project’s pre-engineering phase. Once completed, the project will extract hydrogen from water to make synthetic methane from renewable electricity sources, as well as CO2 from emissions from an existing waste-to-energy facility. The methane produced will be enough to fuel up to 200 vehicles per day and will be used to replace conventional, fossil natural gas in district heating during the winter heating season. Wärtsilä’s pre-engineering work is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, and the project is scheduled for completion in early 2025.
