A major step forward has been taken in the green hydrogen refinery project planned by VetyAlfa Oy in Utajärvi in Northern Finland, as the company has been granted significant investment support from the EU Innovation Fund. In accordance with the decision of the European Commission, the Cloudberry project, a is part of VetyAlfa’s Utajärvi complex, is about to receive EUR 224 million in investment aid. The Commission published the results of the auction on 7 May 2026.
The details will be specified later when the projects now approved by the EU sign their grant agreements with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).
Earlier this year, this VetyAlfa´s refinery complex received EUR 150 million in investment support from Business Finland as part of the Finnish government’s promotion measures related to the green transition. Together, the financing decisions will significantly improve the investment conditions of our project entity, says Antti Tanskanen, CEO of Alfa Group.
“We aim to have the prerequisites to make a decision on the investment in 2027. This would allow the new hydrogen refinery to start up before the end of the decade.”
Vetyalfa, which is part of the Alfa Group, aims for a maximum of 180,000 tonnes of hydrogen production per year in Utajärvi. The company’s plans are to enable the further processing of hydrogen in the value chain up to the production of synthetic fuels. At the same time, it will be ensured that the value chain remains in Finland as comprehensively as possible.
At its largest, this is the largest hydrogen economy project in Finland. With its storagecapacity, and depending on the downstream products, the value of the investment would be in the billions of euros.
Vetyalfa is in constant discussions with investors interested in the production of hydrogen and downstream products. “We have noticed that the scalability of our refinery complex and the possibility of producing diverse end products are of interest to different industries and investors. We expect the discussions to intensify further with the decision on EU investment aid,” Tanskanen says.
The EU supports the creation of new green business in Finland
VetyAlfa will start preparing an agreement with CINEA, says Reija Knuutila, Business Director of VetyAlfa, who is leading the Utajärvi project. “During the negotiation phase, which lasts a few months, the financing agreement will be finalized, including the budget and technical details. The final results, including the amount of funding, are expected to be confirmed during the autumn”, she adds.
“The EU support decision and the previous investment support from Business Finland are proof that our project supports the EU’s efforts to create new clean energy-based business in Finland and Europe, in addition to exiting the fossil economy. It is great to be involved in creating new clean business now that the demand for final processed products based on green hydrogen is starting to grow through the EU’s steering effects,” Knuutila says.
According to Knuutila, the subsidy decision also indicates Finland’s competitiveness as the country strives to become a leading country in the hydrogen economy.
The operations of the Utajärvi refinery would be based on Finland’s strengths and local resources: renewable energy, a strong and continuously developing electricity network, and the separation of hydrogen from water. The maximum capacity of the electrolyzer would be 1000 MW, but the project can also be built in stages. The electrolysers needed for hydrogen production would get some of their electrical power from the solar power park to be developed at the same time and the battery pack that enables adjustment.
Moreover, Vetyalfa has other hydrogen projects in the planning phase in Vaala, Kemijärvi and Rovaniemi, which are also fully in process.
In addition to VetyAlfa, the Alfa Group consists of TuuliAlfa Oy, which develops wind power and electricity network projects, and SolarAlfa Oy, which focuses on solar energy and electricity storage projects. The strategy of Alfa Group is to enable a comprehensive value chain of renewable energy in Finland. This will be ensured by a broad project portfolio that will enable us to increase the production capacity of synthetic fuels to meet the needs of the market well into the 2030s.
The Alfa Group´s companies are mainly domestically owned. The main financier is a European fund management company focusing on renewable energy.
EU Commission press release about the hydrogen auction outcome: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_1004
Further information:
Antti Tanskanen, CEO of Alfa Group, tel. +358 44 977 0409
Reija Knuutila, Business Director of VetyAlfa Oy, tel. +358 50 379 3735
Sami Kyntölä, Chief Commercial Officer of VetyAlfa Oy, tel. +358 44 345 4335
www.vetyalfa.fi
www.tuulialfa.fi
www.solaralfa.fi