Financing for Pori’s planned vanadium plant may be secured this year as European demand grows

Financing for a long-planned vanadium processing plant in Pori, Finland, could be finalised by the end of this year, according to Johanna Lamminen, CEO of Novana, the company behind the project. The investment, valued at approximately €400 million, received nearly €50 million in state funding from Business Finland last autumn.

Lamminen told public broadcaster Yle that the need for the facility in Pori’s Tahkoluoto industrial area has increased due to rising demand in Europe. “Vanadium has become an even more critical raw material in Europe, driven by growth in the defence industry and the expanding need for energy storage, such as in data centre projects,” she said.

Vanadium is used to improve the strength, toughness, and wear resistance of steel products and is also a key component in battery systems that store energy from solar and wind power.

Investor uncertainty persists despite growing demand
While demand for vanadium in Europe is rising, Lamminen noted that investor hesitation around green transition projects continues. “The uncertainty among investors regarding these types of sustainable initiatives remains,” she said.

The Pori plant would support Europe’s circular economy goals by recovering vanadium from steel industry by-products. If completed, the facility—expected to employ around 150 people permanently—would cover over half of the EU’s vanadium needs. Currently, Europe relies heavily on imports, with China producing more than half of the world’s vanadium supply, followed by Russia and South Africa.