FORTUM OYJ

Their core work

Fortum OYJ is one of the largest Nordic energy companies, operating across power generation, district heating, and energy retail in Northern Europe. In H2020, they brought industrial-scale energy expertise to two distinct frontier areas: coordinating a full-scale wave energy converter array tested in real sea conditions off the UK's Wave Hub, and integrating smart EV charging into urban energy neighborhoods as part of a broader sustainable mobility consortium. Their EU project work sits at the intersection of utility-scale renewable energy deployment and smart city energy management. As an industrial actor rather than a research institution, Fortum contributes commercial viability assessment, grid integration know-how, and real-world deployment experience to research consortia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Fortum's H2020 participation began with a bold bet on offshore wave energy — coordinating CEFOW to demonstrate that multi-device wave converter arrays could reach commercially viable costs under real North Atlantic conditions. By 2018, their focus had rotated inland and urban: GreenCharge shows a shift toward smart charging infrastructure, local renewable integration, and the business model layer of the energy transition. The trajectory moves from hardware-heavy marine energy demonstration toward software-enabled urban energy systems and mobility services — consistent with broader utility industry trends toward distributed energy and electromobility.

Fortum is moving from capital-intensive renewable energy hardware (wave converters) toward intelligent urban energy management and electromobility services — making them a relevant partner for smart city, EV infrastructure, and distributed energy projects going forward.

How they like to work

Fortum has played both roles in H2020 — project coordinator on CEFOW and consortium participant on GreenCharge — indicating they can lead when the project is central to their strategic interests, and join selectively when the topic complements their core business. With 28 unique partners across just 2 projects, they work in sizeable, diverse consortia rather than tight bilateral arrangements. This suggests they are comfortable operating as one industrial anchor in a multi-stakeholder research consortium rather than owning the full agenda.

Fortum has built connections with 28 distinct consortium partners spanning 8 countries through only 2 projects — an unusually broad network for such limited EU project activity, reflecting their status as a large industrial partner that attracts diverse research and technology actors. Their geographic footprint is European, likely concentrated in Northern and Western Europe given the project locations (Wave Hub, UK; GreenCharge's Nordic/European city focus).

What sets them apart

Fortum brings something most research consortia lack: the perspective and operational experience of a major grid-connected utility that actually deploys and operates energy infrastructure at scale. Unlike universities or SMEs, they can validate whether a technology is commercially viable in a real market — and they have the regulatory relationships, grid access, and customer base to pilot at scale. For projects needing an industrial anchor that can bridge laboratory results to market deployment in the Nordic or broader European energy market, Fortum is a credible and strategically valuable partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CEFOW
  Fortum led this project as coordinator — a rare coordinator role for a large utility — deploying multi-device wave energy arrays at the UK's Wave Hub test site under real Atlantic sea conditions, with commercial LCOE reduction as the explicit goal.
• GreenCharge
  Marks Fortum's pivot from hardware-based renewable generation into smart urban energy systems, combining EV smart charging with local renewables, SUMP-aligned mobility planning, and sharing economy business models in a single integrated demonstration.