Gasum and Nordic Ren-Gas have signed an e-methane offtake agreement, through which Nordic Ren-Gas’s Power-to-Gas plant in Tampere will produce annually 160 GWh of renewable e-methane, which Gasum will procure and distribute to its customers, helping to cut GHG emissions in maritime transport.
Under the long-term sales and purchase agreement whereby Gasum will buy all of the e-methane produced by Nordic Ren-Gas at its Tampere plant from 2026 onwards. Nordic Ren-Gas will develop, build and operate the Tampere Power-to-Gas plant, which produces e-methane using renewable electricity from Finnish wind power and biogenic CO2 captured from existing power plants.
In the Power-to-Gas process, hydrogen is first produced using renewable electricity and water. The hydrogen is then further processed into e-methane by combining the hydrogen with biogenic CO2. E-methane produced in this way is fully renewable and can replace fossil fuel usage in transportation, maritime and industrial sectors.
E-methane is fully interchangeable with natural gas and biogas. When it is liquefied it is likewise fully interchangeable with LNG and liquified biogas (LBG). This means that it can be transported through existing infrastructure and directly used in assets currently running on natural gas or biogas.
Mika Wiljanen, CEO of Gasum Group, said: “This partnership is a massive game changer with the possibility to expand the availability of renewable gas at an industrial scale. Gasum aims to become a significant player in the e-methane market, and this is the first step on that path. The e-methane produced by Nordic Ren-Gas is a competitive renewable fuel, which can be efficiently distributed through our existing infrastructure to our customers in the traffic, maritime and industry segments. Nordic Ren-Gas has an impressive pipeline of similar projects on the way – this is a strategically important partnership for us.”
Saara Kujala, CEO Nordic Ren-Gas said: “We are extremely happy about this offtake agreement and partnership with Gasum, which enables the introduction of e-methane to the market very efficiently. Ren-Gas has been actively building a value chain for e-methane in Finland, for which this agreement is a concrete milestone. Ren-Gas has a development portfolio of several e-methane production projects, and this partnership enables us to accelerate the development of these important green transition projects.”
The Tampere Power-to-Gas plant will initially produce about 160 GWh of renewable e-methane per year starting in 2026. Nordic Ren-Gas has developed an operational and technical design for its Power-to-Gas plants to meet all the requirements of the EU Renewable Energy Directive on renewable liquid and gaseous fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO) for its e-methane. Nordic Ren-Gas will capture the biogenic CO2 from the flue gas of the Tammervoima waste plant.
As the amount of affordable wind and solar power available in the Nordic electricity grid increases, using intermittent renewable electricity to produce renewable e-methane is considered a feasible way of storing energy and distributing it to sectors such as maritime transportation, where direct electrification is not a realistic way of decarbonisation.
E-methane can be directly used in gas engines currently running on natural gas, biogas, LNG or LBG/Bio-LNG and it can be blended in at any ratio. There is no need for any additional investments in new equipment or modifications for companies who already own gas-fuelled ships.
Unlike alternative fuels such as ammonia or methanol which are said to be still in the development stage both in terms of production and infrastructure, e-methane is an already existing pathway to decarbonising maritime in just a few years. Gasum’s strategic goal is to bring 7 TWh of renewable gas yearly to market by 2027. Achieving this goal would mean a yearly cumulative carbon dioxide reduction of 1.8m tons for Gasum customers.
