Green hydrogen is often portrayed as a key component in the green energy transition, since it is produced with renewable energy through electrolysis – the splitting up of freshwater into hydrogen and oxygen – and it does not emit carbon dioxide when combusted. Yet green hydrogen’s huge potential for the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors (e.g. steelmaking and production of fertilizers) as well as maritime shipping and aviation are not the only promises that it harbors. Green hydrogen’s use as an energy storage solution makes it particularly promising for remote and sparsely populated areas with an abundance of renewable energy resources such as the Norwegian Arctic.

Take the case of one renewable energy source: wind. In regions such as the Norwegian Arctic, the potential for wind energy is enormous. However, because of low overall demand in this sparsely populated area as well as weak grid connectivity with the southern regions of Norway, its surplus green power can neither be fully harvested nor exported. This is precisely where green hydrogen and green ammonia—a derivative that is easier to store and transport—could come into play. Working as a large-scale transportable “battery” for long-term storage of renewable electricity, green ammonia could allow for excess electricity coming from wind farms to be preserved and delivered to other regions and countries for further use.

This potential export energy sector—and others that green hydrogen and its derivatives may offer—could significantly benefit local communities by creating new economic, social, and environmental opportunities. Yet while the development of green hydrogen infrastructure could improve socio-economic conditions in the Far North, it could also bring new challenges and uncertainties related to wildlife and sustainability that will need to be properly addressed.

Great Expectations

The East-Finnmark district in northernmost Norway is particularly well-suited to be a future centre for green hydrogen production. In its coastal and mountainous areas, Arctic winds blow constantly. There is also an abundance of fresh water – which is the main feedstock for electrolysis.

Yet the existing grid infrastructure in the north is insufficient to transport the excess energy generated to Norway’s southern regions. With this challenge in mind, the small fishing community of Berlevåg on the Varanger Peninsula (population 1,000) has developed plans to become a hydrogen frontrunner within Europe. The town’s idea is to use the surplus energy from the existing 100 MW Raggovidda wind farm—one of the most efficient onshore wind farms in Europe, consisting of 27 wind turbines—to produce green ammonia on a large scale both for export and for regional use (particularly in Arctic shipping).

Berlevåg’s current plans aim to commence the commercial production of green ammonia by 2024, and then to expand the wind farm by another 16 turbines (about 100 MW) by 2026. The EU-funded project is raising high expectations among local and national politicians, who hope to turn Berlevåg into a centre for renewable energy in the Arctic. They also envision using the by-products of hydrogen production—heat and oxygen—to support other economic activities such as fish farming and vertical agriculture. This would create green employment opportunities in the region, and also help to counteract population decline, which presents enormous challenges for the region both economically and in terms of security policy.

Challenges on the Way to Success

Ambitious plans have not prevented the expansion of wind energy from being a highly controversial proposition in Norway. In particular, Indigenous Sámi People who depend on reindeer herding oppose the development of new wind parks because they would affect the migration patterns of reindeer, and create a negative impact on Indigenous ways of life. As a result, the green transition in Norway has been criticized by Sámi politicians and researchers as “green colonialism” and a violation of Indigenous Peoples´ rights.

This is a view that also has found favour in Norwegian courts. In 2021, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled that two wind farms on the Fosen Peninsula violate Article 27 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which states that “ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities […] shall not be denied the right […] to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language.”

In Berlevåg, the plan to expand the Raggovidda wind farm has not yet met with public protest. But the effort has drawn criticism from affected reindeer herders in the district, as well as from members of the Sámi Parliament, who argue that the wind farm and the planned expansion will affect reindeer migrations. Therefore, even if it is not risen to become the subject of public debate, the project in Berlevåg is not uncontroversial—and it risks causing sociocultural tensions and land conflicts in the future.

Green ammonia itself could pose additional significant challenges. Ammonia is a toxic substance, and excessive exposure to it can result in brain damage or even death. And if green ammonia somehow leaked into the sea, it would both endanger aquatic life and promote eutrophication, a process that would result in increased algal growth. Any such disaster would likely to lead to a shift in species composition in the Norwegian and Barents Seas.

Given the extreme fragility of the Arctic environment, projects of this kind must be managed with great care, and require special precautionary measures. The great enthusiasm for green hydrogen and green ammonia is precisely why it is important to remember that these solutions entail the use of very risky technologies.

Future Uncertainties

In addition to these potential challenges and conflicts, it is important to note that current planning for a low-carbon energy transition in the Finnmark district does not foresee an exclusively green hydrogen future. Unlike the EU’s hydrogen strategy, which prioritizes green hydrogen in the long term, Norway is also embracing blue hydrogen (i.e., hydrogen produced from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage technologies.)

A hydrogen strategy and feasibility study prepared for the Province Troms og Finnmark, for example, estimates that the ratio of green to blue hydrogen production will be approximately 1:20 in the year 2025 and around 1:10 in 2045. Given the importance of the oil and gas sector for the Arctic regions, as well as the higher production forecasts for hydrocarbons-based hydrogen, it is unclear whether green hydrogen will be able to replace fossil fuel-based hydrogen in the long term, or whether it is doomed to a shadowy existence.

On a more general note, while more controversial green ammonia export projects are planned in East-Finnmark, it is not clear whether these projects will be able to compete with hydrocarbons-based alternatives. While the recent ongoing energy crisis has resulted in record natural gas prices that have made green hydrogen production in Europe cost-competitive for the first time, blue hydrogen production is still estimated to be two to three times less expensive than the generation of green hydrogen under “normal” conditions. Whether communities like Berlevåg will be able to produce renewable hydrogen at a competitive price when their hydrogen/ammonia facilities enter operation remains to be seen.

At the same time, given the current controversy surrounding the expansion of wind energy and other infrastructure, it is vital that green hydrogen development in the region not only creates new green jobs, but also that it is conducted in a way that acknowledges the rights, culture and livelihoods of Indigenous people. Only then can green hydrogen contribute to a genuinely just transition that will benefit local and Indigenous communities rather than contributing to what might be termed a “green land grab.”