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Flexens spin-off HydRe receives an 800,000 euro investment grant from the Finnish Energy Authority to build Finland’s first hydrogen refuelling station in Lieto

1/11/2023

HydRe was founded at the beginning of 2022 as a Flexens spin-off company to develop a network of hydrogen refuelling stations for heavy transport in Northern Europe. In November, the HydRe team applied for a Finnish Energy Authority investment grant. As a result, HydRe was granted about 800,000 euros for its project in Lieto, where the startup intends to build Finland’s first hydrogen refuelling station.

THE PLAN: A BOOST IN HYDROGEN REFUELLING

The Lieto station is scheduled to open by 2024. The startup’s ambition does not end there: By 2025, seven additional hydrogen refuelling stations will be finalised, growing to about fifty stations by 2030. Most of the planned stations are intended for Finland, but not all.

As the interest in hydrogen snowballs, hydrogen refuelling stations become increasingly necessary. HydRe’s stations will supply locally produced hydrogen to both light and heavy vehicles. The intention is to decarbonise heavy road transport and increase local energy security.

Flexens also sees the production and use of green hydrogen and its derivatives as crucial for the renewable energy transition:

The development of the hydrogen filling station network is an important step forward in the green transition. Flexens extensively promotes the use of green hydrogen in both transport and industrial applications, and we took an early role in building HydRe as a business. - Berndt Schalin, CEO, Flexens Oy Ab

BUILT ON A CONTINUED PARTNERSHIP

The hydrogen for the Lieto station will be produced nearby: In 2022, HydRe signed a Letter of Intent with Green North Energy. Green North Energy is a hydrogen producer meant to kick-start the green hydrogen market of Southwestern Finland from the coastal town of Naantali.

It is great that with the first production facility in the Turku region, we enable HydRe's refuelling network and the birth of the hydrogen economy more widely. Our operations create various opportunities for, for example, the energy, industry and transport sectors. - Jussi Ylinen, CEO, Green North Energy

In November 2021, Flexens became a shareholder in Green North Energy, a then newly founded subsidiary of the engineering and consulting firm Elomatic. The Lieto project is thus built on a lasting partnership with Flexens at its core.

The grant is a major step towards building the first hydrogen refuelling station in Finland in the Avanti logistical centre in Lieto. I am extremely happy for HydRe's team effort as well as the strong partnerships with both Flexens and Green NortH2 Energy. - Juho-Matti Uuksulainen, CEO, HydRe