Finnish hydrogen project to receive EUR 224 million from EU’s Innovation Fund
Based on the 2025 hydrogen auction of its Innovation Fund, the European Commission has selected nine projects that will proceed to agreement negotiations. Among them is the Cloudberry project of Finland’s Vetyalfa Oy. The Commission published the results of the auction on 7 May 2026.
The selected projects will receive a total of around €1.09 billion in EU funding, of which EUR 224 million would be awarded to Vetyalfa. This represents the largest-ever subsidy awarded to Finland from the EU Innovation Fund. The final amount will be confirmed when the approved projects sign a grant agreement with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).
The agreements are expected to be signed in the last quarter of 2026. The selected projects will then have to reach an investment/construction decision within two and a half years of grant signature and enter into operation within five years.
“This is the kind of positive news that Finland currently needs. I’m very pleased that a Finnish project has again been successful in a very tight competition. It shows in a concrete way how the focus on clean energy expertise and Finland’s competitive advantage are paying off. We meet all the conditions for creating clean growth as one of Europe’s leaders to benefit from the opportunities offered by the hydrogen economy and biogenic carbon dioxide,” says Minister of Climate and the Environment Sari Multala.
“Although large hydrogen projects are long-term endeavours, we are clearly going in the right direction and the outlook is very positive. Perseverance and patience are essential for the development of hydrogen technology, but the effort will be rewarded at the end. Europe clearly recognises our expertise in this field,” she adds.
Vetyalfa’s bid offers the largest volume with the lowest price
Across seven countries in the European Economic Area, the projects are expected to provide almost 1.1 giga-watts of electrolyser capacity and produce over 1.3 million tonnes of hydrogen over their first 10 years of operation. They are estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 9 million tonnes.
Vetyalfa Oy offers to produce nearly 509 kilotonnes of hydrogen in 10 years. Its bid price is the lowest of all bidders. The company’s production capacity would be 500 MW. The green hydrogen produced would reduce emissions by more than 3.38 million tonnes over 10 years. The subsidy applied by the company was EUR 224 million.
The EU Innovation Fund supports projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote the use of renewable energy sources, improve energy efficiency and enable emission reductions in energy-intensive industries. In particular, the Fund focuses on projects that can significantly reduce Europe’s carbon footprint and, at the same time, boost sustainable economic growth and competitiveness. Its funding comes from the revenue of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS).
The projects selected in this funding round are expected to receive subsidies worth EUR 1,094 million from the Innovation Fund. The subsidies will be paid as of the start of the projects in 2030. In all, 58 bids from 11 countries were submitted to the auction, resulting in an oversubscription of more than six times the budget of EUR 1.3 billion.
Inquiries:
Timo Ritonummi, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 064 798
Jyrki Alkio, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 047 103
Questions to the minister:
Juuso Kilpinen, Special Adviser to the Minister of Climate and the Environment, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 50 322 9636