Permitting Hydrogen Projects In A Changing Operating Environment ' What Should Be Taken Into Account When Establishing A Production Plant?

• Published date: 18 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Environment, Energy and Natural Resources, Environmental Law, Chemicals
• Law Firm: Castren & Snellman Attorneys
• Author: Matias Wallgren, Sanna-Mari Sepp'l' and Helin' Teittinen

Green hydrogen is planned to replace fossil fuels, particularly in industries that are difficult to electrify. In Finland, hydrogen projects of approximately EUR 11.7 billion are being planned.

The legislation in force does not take the special characteristics of hydrogen projects into account in all respects, and new legislative initiatives or authority guidelines have not been issued yet. This is the first part of our two-part blog that discusses the different aspects of permits for hydrogen production.

PERMITTING A HYDROGEN PRODUCTION PLANT

A hydrogen production plant may require, for example, the following procedures and authority permits:

• Environmental impact assessment procedure, i.e. EIA procedure
• Environmental permit
• Permit for the extensive processing and storage of hazardous chemicals, i.e. chemical permit.

If a production plant is constructed, for example, on the same site with a carbon dioxide storage or if the plant will process hydrogen into methanol, methane or ammonia, these functions may affect the permit procedure of the project. Constructing a hydrogen production plant may in some cases also require other authority permits.

1. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE

First, a hydrogen production plant may require an environmental impact assessment procedure if the project is mentioned in Annex 1 of the Act on Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure, i.e. in the list of projects, or if the project is likely to have significant environmental impacts comparable in type and extent to those of the projects referred to in the Annex. A hydrogen production plant may require an environmental impact assessment procedure based on section 6 c) of the list of projects, which concerns integrated chemical installations for industrial scale manufacture of substances using chemical conversion processes and which are for the production of inorganic chemicals, among other things.

Pursuant to the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive, chemical conversion processes means a process with one or more chemical reactions and integrated chemical installations means an installation, in which several units are juxtaposed and are functionally linked to one another. Based on the section above, a hydrogen production plant that also produces methane, for example, could require an EIA procedure. The definition of industrial scale, on the other hand, is identical with the definition in the Industrial Emissions Directive. According to the European Commission's...