The Finnish Hydrogen Cluster, representing more than 80 companies and organisations, and NLHydrogen, encompassing 50 companies across the Dutch hydrogen value chain, will collaborate to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy, supported by local governments and Business Finland.
The goal is to combine the strengths of the Finnish and Dutch hydrogen communities to jointly build a sustainable hydrogen value chain, strengthen energy security, and contribute to Europe’s climate goals.
The organisations signed the cooperation agreement during the Business Forum event in the presence of Finnish Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Ville Tavio, and Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aukje de Vries. Both Finland and the Netherlands have advanced energy and transport infrastructure, strong industrial clusters, and innovation-driven ecosystems. Both countries also recognise the benefits of developing a European wide hydrogen economy.
“Finland and the Netherlands both strive to become pioneers and leaders in the hydrogen economy. While both want to strengthen their own hydrogen value chains, our primary goal is to develop a pan-European hydrogen economy and ecosystem. This is in the best interest of both countries,” said Herkko Plit, Chair of the Board of the Finnish Hydrogen Cluster.
“The Finnish Hydrogen Cluster’s slogan is hydrogen is freedom. This emphasises the importance of European hydrogen cooperation and hydrogen value chains for our own economic resilience and strategic autonomy. We are very excited about working together with Finland on this important subject,” commented Marcel Galjee, Chair of the Board of NLHydrogen.
The cooperation will focus particularly on new technologies and value chains, policy advocacy, and market creation. Together, the hydrogen clusters will explore how various hydrogen projects and technologies can be integrated into value chains and how hydrogen production, demand, and necessary infrastructure can be aligned. In addition, they will examine how governmental actors support technology and value chain development in both countries and how to create demand on the customer side through legislation, technology development, and innovation.
Finland’s competitive advantages in the hydrogen economy include strong renewable electricity production and grid connection, abundant biogenic CO2 availability from the forest industry, and sector integration.
The Netherlands serves as an energy and resources hub for all of Northwestern Europe and has frontrunner projects and companies all along the hydrogen value chain – from local production and import to infrastructure, and from use of hydrogen in industry and mobility to technological manufacturing industries.
The advantages of the two countries are complementary, and they share strategic priorities and values.