Finnish-led BalticSeaH2 awarded Hydrogen Valley of the Year
The €33 million BalticSeaH2 project is building a hydrogen valley across the Baltic Sea region, connecting hydrogen production, distribution, processing and use.
The European H2 Valley of the Year Award honours exceptional achievements in the development and implementation of Hydrogen Valleys. Criteria for the evaluation are breakthroughs in project implementation, outstanding efforts in covering the value chain, hydrogen volume produced/used in the valley, the stakeholders’ landscape and involvement, as well as the innovation level. The award was handed out at Hydrogen Research and Innovation Days.
BalticSeaH2 builds the first significant, cross-border hydrogen valley in Europe. The goal is to create an integrated hydrogen economy around the Baltic Sea to enable self-sufficiency of energy and minimise carbon emissions from different industries. Combining local areas into a broader valley supports creating a genuinely integrated, interregional hydrogen economy, which has not been done previously on this scale in Europe.
The main valley of the project is located between Finland and Estonia. The area between Finland and Estonia is an optimal location for a cross-border hydrogen market. The necessary infrastructure – natural gas pipelines, electricity grids, and active marine traffic – already exist in the Gulf of Finland. The project will support the reduction of the carbon emissions from existing marine traffic. In addition, Gasgrid Vetyverkot is already preparing hydrogen infrastructure: Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor, Baltic Sea Hydrogen Collector and Nordic Hydrogen Route enable strong growth for hydrogen economy and hydrogen markets in the Baltic Sea region.
The project started in June 2023 and runs for five years. The consortium includes 40 partners from nine Baltic Sea region countries: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Many Hydrogen Cluster Finland members are also partners in the project. The funder, Clean Hydrogen Partnership, presented awards to its leading projects at a ceremony on 24 November 2025. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership is a public-private partnership supporting research and innovation activities in the hydrogen sector across Europe.
