VolagHy publishes its EIA programme for its leading site in Kuopio

EIA Programme

Today VolagHy published the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) programme for its Kuopio flagship site, marking a key milestone on the project’s permitting pathway. The programme describes the scope and methodology for the full EIA that will assess environmental, social and land-use effects of the planned eSAF production facility. The EIA programme has been prepared with technical support from AFRY. The publication of the EIA programme moves the Kuopio site from planning into the formal assessment phase. This is a pivotal step toward ensuring transparent stakeholder engagement, careful evaluation of environmental impacts, and responsible development of one of the Nordic region’s first large-scale synthetic aviation fuel plants.

Support from AFRY

VolagHy engaged AFRY to support preparation of the EIA programme and to bring specialized EIA and environmental permitting expertise to the project team. AFRY’s capabilities in environmental and social impact assessment and permitting work complement VolagHy’s technical design and local stakeholder engagement, ensuring that the EIA will be robust, transparent and aligned with regulatory requirements.

Collaboration with local partners

The preparation of the EIA programme has been supported by close collaboration with local industrial and infrastructure partners in the Kuopio region. Mondi, Kuopion Energia, Savon Voima and Kuopion Vesi have contributed project-relevant background information, technical input and insights related to energy systems, utilities, water management and existing industrial operations. This collaboration has helped ensure that the EIA programme is grounded in local conditions and reflects realistic integration with existing infrastructure.

In addition, Business Kuopio has supported the EIA development process by facilitating dialogue with local stakeholders and helping coordinate cooperation between the project and the regional business and innovation ecosystem. This local engagement has been an important element in defining assessment boundaries, identifying key impact themes and supporting early stakeholder involvement.

Built for industrial symbiosis and benefits for the region and Finland

The project is a large-scale investment into the Kuopio region and presents several opportunities for a positive development in various aspects:

• Waste heat: The project will generate substantial volumes of waste heat, which can be integrated in the district heating network, thus lowering the incineration-based heat and overall system costs.
• Unlocking value from biogenic CO2: Currently, CO2 is emitted into the air without any benefits, and at a negative impact for the environment. By instead capturing the CO2, you can capitalize on this stream as well as lowering greenhouse gas emissions locally.
• Creation of local revenues/profits: The project represents a ~1 Billion euro investment into the region and substantial amounts of yearly revenues. A large part of these volumes would also generate export incomes to Finland.
• Jobs creation: During construction ~1000 people will be employed and once in operation 100+ people will be working at the plant.
• Resilience: The project increases the resilience of Finland as domestic production of aviation fuel can be important in a time of crisis. In addition, we see great synergies with being very close to one of your Air force bases.
• Competitiveness of air traffic to Finland: Having domestic supply of eSAF at a competitive price in Finland will improve the condition of Finnish airlines and will make air travel to Finland less costly compared to relying on imported eSAF.
• Compliance with EU regulation: By having local supply of eSAF it will facilitate for Finland to achieve the climate targets in EU RED III as well as ReFuel EU Aviation.

What happens next

Following publication of the EIA programme, VolagHy will proceed with the environmental baseline studies, technical assessments and public consultation activities outlined in the programme. The completed EIA report will be submitted to the Economic Development Center as part of the statutory EIA procedure, with opportunities for stakeholders and local residents to review and provide feedback.