August 15, 2022 [LNGPrime] – Hamina LNG is nearing the launch of commercial operations at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility in Finland’s Hamina port.

The LNG terminal developer, a joint venture consisting of Finland’s Hamina Energy, tech firm Wartsila, and Estonia’s energy company Alexela, said on Thursday the the facility had achieved mechanical completion and it had started the commissioning phase.

The facility features one tank with a capacity of about 30,000 cbm and will supply about 3 TWh per year to the grid.

It will also offer truck loading services from two bays and bunkering services.

Hamina LNG said in April that it had planned to launch commercial operations at the delayed project in October this year.

After that, it also launched an open season to offer terminal capacity to the market for gas year 2023, starting from October 1, 2022 and ending on September 30, 2023.

According to a statement by Hamina LNG released on Thursday, “the 4800 MWh/d HP injection capacity (transmission network) has been fully booked for the upcoming gas year, but there is still storage capacity and fixed truck loading capacity left.”

The firm is offering the remaining free storage capacity of 12,000 cbm.

Besides this small facility, Finland is also building the FSRU-based terminal in Inkoo as part of plans to boost energy security.

Finnish state-owned natural gas transmission system operator, Gasgrid, is planning to install Excelerate Energy’s FSRU in Inkoo or Estonia’s Paldiski in December this year.

Excelerate’s 150,900-cbm Exemplar will serve Finland, Estonia, and other Baltic states under a 10-year charter deal Gasgrid signed with the US LNG firm in May.

The FSRU, which can supply more than 5 billion cubic meters per year of regasification capacity, is already on its way to Europe from Argentina.

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