Three separate companies, Lhyfe, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Flexens have decided to form a partnership, with the aim of developing an integrated energy island solution. This formation will include a large-scale offshore wind, green hydrogen production, plus other activities on Åland, which is located in the Finnish archipelago.

The overall goal with this new project is to integrate large-scale offshore wind generation and hydrogen production, with gigawatt scale offshore wind in Åland waters. The product will be used both locally and in the wider region, focusing mainly on Europe. This highlights how the project will be supporting both Åland and the EU’s aims to drive forwards energy security and decarbonisation.

Åland recently announced that their own aim is to become a society which is based solely on green energy, whilst also paying close attention to the preservation of the island’s environments and ecosystems, including onshore and the marine environment. This is one of the reasons why Åland agreed to this project, as the plan for this project will contribute towards Åland’s goals, especially as through Flexens being a partner, the body of companies will be able to create a project which takes into consideration the local needs of Åland. The project will be careful to align itself with the needs of Åland, whilst also aligning with the Government’s ambitions and the Sunnanvind project. Through doing this, significant value will be created for Åland and this will include respect to both social and economic gains, through securing local investment and employment throughout the project and adjacent activities. This means that through participating in this project, Åland will see a multitude of benefits, especially for its job sector, therefore with all the considerations the company will apply to this work, Åland will maintain what is currently important to them, as well as gain a variety of advancements. One of these is shown already through how the plan to integrate offshore wind and green hydrogen production will grant Åland a route to market, where they will have the opportunity to provide untapped wind resources and also make itself known as a business actively working with and for the green transition.

All three companies bring something different and essential to the collaboration, CIP is the world’s largest dedicated fund manager. They deal with greenfield renewable energy investments, offshore wind, green hydrogen and energy islands are sectors that they are global leaders in. Lhyfe has exceptional experience and capabilities in developing, designing and operating onshore and offshore hydrogen facilities in Europe. They currently have one plan in France and seven plants under construction in Sweden, France and Germany. Finally, Flexens, is a well-known regional developer of hydrogen projects, plus they originated from Åland which will give them benefits and an advantage point when it comes to constructing the project, due to their knowledge of local integration, which will aid the local energy system.

Thomas Dalsgaard, partner at CIP, commented, “The strong complementary capabilities represented by the consortium partners enable the Åland Energy Island integrating offshore wind and hydrogen facilities to be structured and developed with the environmental, economic, and social interests of Åland in mind.”

Chief Business Officer at Lhyfe, Taia Kronborg, added that the partnership “takes us to the next level” in the Nordic region. She continued, “This project demonstrates how hydrogen can fit into a vast integrated renewable energy system with its capacity to store and transform renewable electricity. It’ll be a great role model for all Europe.”

Berndt Schalin from Flexens, said, “We see an unprecedented opportunity to create and expand renewable energy related activities on Åland into a skills and knowledge-based hub for the offshore based energy future in the whole Baltic Sea region.”