Wärtsilä has received the financial and government clearances required to commence construction of an LNG receiving terminal in the Finnish port of Hamina.

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Image: The new LNG receiving terminal will be located in the Finnish port of Hamina. Photo: courtesy of Wartsila.

The firm said that the €100m ($120m) project has also concluded debt financing with Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken and Finnvera, the Finnish state-owned specialized financing company.

Wärtsilä will be the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for the LNG terminal, which is claimed to be the third of its kind in the country.

Additionally, Wärtsilä will join the project through a minority investment by WDFS (Wärtsilä Development and Financial Services) in Hamina LNG, which is owned by Hamina Energy and Estonian energy company Alexela.

As part of the initial development phase of Hamina project, a 30,000m3 LNG storage tank will be built. A second 20,000 m3 storage tank is also planned to be added at a later date.

As part of the contract signed in 2017, Wärtsilä will be responsible for site filling, soil refurbishment, civil works, infrastructure, full containment storage tank, regasification and gas metering, boil-off gas handling (BOG) system, electrical and control system, unloading, loading system and bunkering and truck loading.

Hamina Energy CEO Markku Tommiska said: “The new Hamina LNG terminal will be an important addition to the gas infrastructure as it will not only supply businesses and the shipping sector, but will also feed into Hamina Energy’s distribution gas grid and can be connected to Finland’s gas grid.”

The LNG terminal, which is planned to become fully operational in 2020, will be connected to Finnish gas grid.

Wärtsilä Energy Solutions LNG Solutions vice-president Alexandre Eykerman said: “The Hamina project is the third LNG terminal in Finland that Wärtsilä has been contracted to build, the others being the Manga Tornio terminal and the Raahe terminal.”

Eykerman earlier said: “The project will bring a significant reduction in CO2 emissions by providing cleaner fuel for transport and industry.

“At the same time, the LNG infrastructure will increase the security of supply in Finland with gas grid connection.”