Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä visited together with Member of Parliament Juha Pylväs in Haapavesi power plant on Monday morning to get acquainted with the NordFuel biorefinery project. During the visit the updated status of the project and current topics were discussed.

Minister Lintilä’s view on including transport biogas in the distribution obligation would be a significant improvement on the current situation, as it would create a wider market for biogas. It would be profitable for distribution companies to expand their gas distribution network, as with biogas they could also fulfill their obligation to mix biofuels in fuels sold in Finland. Currently, the distribution obligation is 20 per cent, which means that one fifth of the share of transport fuels must be bio-based: bioethanol or biodiesel made from renewable resources.

In the beginning of summer NordFuel biorefinery got a positive investment subsidy decision from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Investment support is intended for large renewable energy technology demonstration projects. If realized, NordFuel will be a major producer of wood-based bioethanol and biogas, which contributes to the national target of increasing the share of transport biofuels.

More about this topic in Haapavesi newspaper (in Finnish).