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Hydrogen can be an important energy carrier for contributing to the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industrial processes and transport. Clean hydrogen is part of a value chain that spans from electricity generation to various end uses and their associated infrastructures and transport.

Work on hydrogen, e-ammonia, e-methanol and other electrofuels (e-fuels) is becoming increasingly important and is expected to play a vital role in the future energy landscape in the Nordic region, in the EU and across the globe. This requires increased electrification and the expansion of power production.

According to the “EU Hydrogen strategy” (COM/2020/301), the production and use of hydrogen will grow significantly towards 2030/2050 and will be an important part a of the EU’s strategy for energy system integration. Today, hydrogen constitutes less than 2% of Europe’s energy mix.

Many Nordic and international initiatives related to hydrogen and e-fuels are also underway, including the “Nordic Roadmap for Maritime Transport” and the comprehensive Nordic research programme “Nordic Hydrogen Valleys as Energy Hubs – by 2030 and 2040”.

The Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Energy Policy (EK-E) has therefore commissioned a project to map Nordic hydrogen valleys. This will create an overview for relevant businesses, authorities and policy decision makers, aiming to strengthen existing Nordic hydrogen valleys and their associated value chains, while also contributing to the creation and development of new ones.

The objective of the project presented in this report was to support the development of Nordic hydrogen valleys, contribute to the exchange of experience among Nordic stakeholders and to promote and enhance Nordic strengths within Nordic hydrogen value chains.

The project reached this objective by providing:

The project was structured into four separate tasks (see Figure 1). Task 1 Define and map Nordic hydrogen valleys

Full task name: Concept creation and mapping of Nordic hydrogen valleys

included the development of a conceptual understanding as well as a definition of hydrogen valleys from a Nordic perspective. Moreover, this task included the actual, comprehensive mapping of data from all Nordic countries about initiatives that could qualify as existing or potential hydrogen valleys. Task 2 Create a prototype digital tool for mapping

Full task name: Creating a prototype digital tool for mapping hydrogen valleys in the Nordic and Arctic regions

involved developing a prototype for a web-based platform designed to showcase the findings and data collected through the mapping activities. Task 3 Analyse hydrogen potential in Arctic maritime transport

Full task name: Analysing the potential for using clean hydrogen and other fuels based on clean hydrogen in Arctic maritime transport

used the mapping of the valleys relevant to the Arctic maritime sector as a starting point to further explore the potential role of clean hydrogen and other fuels based on clean hydrogen in this sector, looking ahead to 2030 and beyond. Finally, Task 4 Identify drivers and barriers for Nordic hydrogen valleys,

Full task name: Identifying drivers and major barriers for the development of Nordic hydrogen valleys

including a mapping of drivers, barriers and potential policy measures, formed the basis for the development of policy recommendations.

The implementation of all tasks relied on a combination of input from literature (various publicly available data sources) and stakeholder input. Stakeholder input was provided partly through direct interviews with key stakeholders and partly through a stakeholder workshop carried out at an early stage of the project.

The stakeholders interviewed represented national hydrogen associations in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland, a university in Denmark and the five NER Hydrogen Hubs projects (see Appendix B). More than 80 participants registered for the stakeholder workshop, representing additional academic and industry stakeholders as well as authorities and national policymakers (see Appendix C). The input from both the interviews and the stakeholder workshop primarily contributed to the definitions of Nordic hydrogen valleys and hotspots (see Chapter 2) and the identification of the most relevant drivers, barriers and policy measures (see Chapter 6).

The project was carried out by a team that represented various parts of the Nordic region and brought together complementing expertise. The project team consisted of experts in hydrogen, industrial transformation and energy systems from VTT (Finland), SINTEF (Norway) and CIT Renergy (Sweden); experts in the maritime industry from SINTEF Ocean (Norway); and experts in the design and development of digital tools from Boid (Sweden).

This report provides an overview of the implementation and key findings from the project. Following this introductory chapter, the structure is clearly aligned with the respective tasks. Chapter 2 includes the background of the concept of hydrogen valleys and the development of Nordic criteria for hydrogen valleys and hotspots, while Chapter 3 describes the actual mapping activities and results. Chapter 3 also includes an extended discussion on the hydrogen activities that are especially relevant to the Arctic maritime sector. Chapter 4 summarises the approach taken in developing a digital tool for visualising the results of the mapping, as well as a discussion of the long-term potential of such a tool. Chapters 5 and Chapter 6 cover the parts of the study that go beyond the direct mapping of projects. Chapter 5 discusses the potential role of clean hydrogen in the Arctic maritime sector. Chapter 6 elaborates on the drivers and barriers for the development of hydrogen valleys, as well as potential policy measures for addressing these. Finally, Chapter 7 highlights key findings and conclusions from the study.

In addition to this report, the project resulted in the development of a comprehensive database of Nordic hydrogen initiatives and a prototype digital tool for this mapping work. The database and the tool were provided as separate deliverables to Nordic Energy Research. The tool has been made available both to stakeholders and to the public via NER’s website: nordich2valleys.org