Nordic Hydrogen Route

Nordic Hydrogen Route is an initiative between Gasgrid Finland and Swedish based Nordion Energi to accelerate the creation of a hydrogen economy by building up a cross-border hydrogen infrastructure in Bothnian Bay region and an open hydrogen market in the early 2030s.

The aim of Nordic Hydrogen Route is to drive decarbonization, support regional green industrialization, economic development, and European energy independence. The companies seek to develop a network of pipelines that would effectively transport energy from producers to consumers to ensure they have access to an open, reliable, and safe hydrogen market.

The Nordic Hydrogen Route will drive decarbonisation, support regional green industrialisation, economic development and European energy independence. In addition, Nordic Hydrogen Route will accelerate the creation of hydrogen economy and new investments to support European energy transition and increase the access to green and competitive domestic energy.

The map shows Gasgrid and its project partners hydrogen development projects, where pink line is Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor, green is Baltic Sea Hydrogen Collector and the green dotted line is the potential future routes. Blue line is Nordic Hydrogen Route.
The map shows Gasgrid and its project partners hydrogen development projects, where pink line is Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor, green is Baltic Sea Hydrogen Collector and the green dotted is the potential future routes. Blue line is Nordic Hydrogen Route.

NHR project was granted EU’s PCI status and CEF support

In April 2024, the Nordic Hydrogen Route project received the European Union’s Projects of Common Interest (PCI) status. PCI projects aim to build a more integrated and sustainable energy market in the EU and support the achievement of energy and climate objectives.

PCI status can be given to projects that are important to the European internal energy market and for the EU to achieve its energy and climate policy objectives: delivering affordable, secure and sustainable energy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. The projects must have a significant impact on the energy market and market integration in at least two EU Member States, increase competition on energy markets, and enhance the security of supply of energy by, for example, facilitating the integration of energy from renewable energy sources.

PCI status enables accelerated permit processes and the possibility to apply for the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) financing. In January 2025, Gasgrid and its partners were awarded a total of €51.4 million in CEF funding for three international hydrogen projects. The funding will enable the projects to move towards implementation and support the development of an EU-wide hydrogen economy.

The project is currently in the feasibility study phase.

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Preliminary schedule

Phase 1 Plan 2022–2024 
Phase 2 (current)Design 2025–2029 
Phase 3Construction starts ~2029 
Phase 4Open hydrogen market from the early 2030s, implemented in stages  
Co-funded by the European Union

Facts about NHR

  • 1,400 km of new, dedicated hydrogen pipelines will serve 65 TWh of identified potential hydrogen demand in the Bothnian Bay region by 2050.
  • The core route will be along the coastline, with a possible branch to Kiruna’s industrial area
  • The Nordic Hydrogen Route investment is estimated at 5.5B EUR
  • The pipeline could enable up to tenfold investments in renewable energy, hydrogen production, and hydrogen processing.
  • The pipeline could enable annual CO2e reductions of up to 20 Mt by 2050. The estimated CO2e emissions reductions correspond to approximately 20 percent of the combined current annual emissions of Finland and Sweden, thus helping the countries achieve their carbon neutrality targets for 2035 and 2045.
  • The regional hydrogen economy is expected to create up to 40,000 jobs by 2050.