Neste and CINEA Sign the EU Innovation Fund’s Grant Agreement for Clean Hydrogen Project

Neste has closed the grant agreement process with CINEA and the European Commission, following the earlier announced positive EU Innovation Fund grant decision of EUR 88 million to Neste’s clean hydrogen project at the Porvoo refinery in Finland. The ‘SHARC’ project introduces electrolysis and carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions that allow the quick and efficient reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the refinery. Neste’s project is in the feasibility phase with no final investment decision made yet and with the planned start of the operations around the mid 2020s.

With this transformation project, a reduction of more than 4 million tons of CO2 emissions can be achieved at the Porvoo refinery in the first 10 years of operation. The project would strongly contribute to reaching both Finland’s and the EU’s climate targets by accelerating the green transition and has a significant role in Neste’s target of carbon neutral production by 2035.

“We are proud to be in the forefront of accelerating the European energy transition. With the SHARC project, Neste is pioneering in transforming industrial production by using clean hydrogen. The project will also build a foundation for the utilization of carbon dioxide and, for example, the production of electric fuels at the Porvoo refinery in the future,“ says Lars Peter Lindfors, SVP Innovation at Neste.

“This project is an essential step in our efforts towards carbon neutrality and to develop the Porvoo refinery into the most sustainable refinery in Europe by 2030. By reforming our current hydrogen production and capturing emissions from the refinery, we will be strongly contributing to Finland's climate targets. SHARC will be one of the cornerstones of the future success of Neste,” says Markku Korvenranta, Executive Vice President of Oil Products at Neste.

“CINEA is proud to sign the grant agreement of SHARC project, one of the first seven Innovation Fund large-scale projects. I am convinced that SHARC project has great potential to reduce GHG emissions as it will combine green and blue hydrogen production with carbon capture technology. I am looking forward to following the evolution and the implementation of this project,” says Dirk Beckers, Director at CINEA.

Invitation to media event As part of the grant agreement signing ceremony, Neste and CINEA will arrange a media event today, Monday 4 April 2022 at 10.45 a.m. (EET).

Speakers at the grant agreement signing event are: - Markku Korvenranta, Executive Vice President, Oil Products, Neste - Lars Peter Lindfors, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Neste - Vesa-Pekka Poutanen, Economic Counsellor, European Commission Representation in Finland - Roman Doubrava, Head of Innovation Fund Unit at CINEA, European Commission - Riku Huttunen, Director-General of the Energy Department, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland

Media representatives are invited to participate in the event virtually by sending their information (participant’s name, email address and the name of the media) in advance to Neste’s media service at media@neste.com, who will in response provide the meeting link for joining virtually.