How Norway's Svalbard plans to phase out coal

DW (English)

Svalbard will soon shut its last coal mine, as the Norwegian archipelago aims to end coal production and instead focus on renewable energy. But local miners are set to lose their jobs, meaning the transition won't be easy.

Transcript

00:00 Mine number 7 is the last working Norwegian mine in Svalbard archipelago.

00:06 It will close permanently next summer.

00:09 It's part of the authorities' plan to switch to alternative energy sources.

00:13 When I started working in the mine, we were supposed to be doing it to 2045 around.

00:19 And just a year later we got told that we were closing.

00:24 Right now I'm calm about it. I try not to think too much about it.

00:31 All miners and maintenance staff are set to lose their jobs.

00:35 The closure of mine 7 was scheduled for 2023,

00:40 but due to the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices, that was pushed back to 2025.

00:47 Every year, the mine produced about 30,000 tonnes for heating the archipelago's capital Longyearbyen

00:54 and another 80,000 tonnes for the needs of the metallurgical and chemical industries in Europe, including Germany.

01:01 Last autumn, however, Longyearbyen abandoned coal and switched its only power plant to diesel.

01:09 According to Mayor Terje Onevik, this is the first stage of the energy transition.

01:16 Due to the use of coal, about 70,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted into the atmosphere every year,

01:23 and the town needed to find something more efficient.

01:26 I know it sounds a bit weird because we go from fossil fuels to fossil fuels,

01:33 but diesel is a good first step because it's more flexible.

01:38 We have invested in a new battery park to stabilize it,

01:43 and that makes it easier for us to phase in renewables like wind and sun.

01:49 The direct green transition in Svalbard is handled by Måns Olle Sellevold,

01:55 an employee of the state-owned company Storinoske.

01:59 The company has been mining coal in Svalbard for 100 years and is now investing in green energy.

02:05 Måns' projects are a solar panel park outside Longyearbyen at a place called Isford Radio,

02:12 as well as solar panels in the settlement itself.

02:15 The projects are now in the test phase.

02:18 Polar night in winter changes to polar day in Svalbard in spring,

02:22 so the solar panels are ideal for the energy transition, says Måns.

02:27 Behind me here you see one of the six solar facilities we have built in the last years in Longyearbyen.

02:35 It's on the building called Polarcentre. It's a combined hotel and office building.

02:39 We have put solar panels on almost all of the roof. It's a curved roof. It's quite cool, actually.

02:45 Svalbard has a special status, enshrined in a treaty from 1920.

02:50 Along with Norway, Russia is also a player in Svalbard,

02:54 through the Akte Kugel Trust in the Russian enclave of Barentsburg.

02:58 The Russians, unlike the Norwegians, plan to continue developing their mines,

03:02 although coal production will decline there as well.

03:05 At the moment, they are producing 120,000 tons per year,

03:10 and by the end of 2032, coal mining in the archipelago as a whole should be reduced to 40,000 tons.

03:17 But, according to the representatives of the Norwegian State Energy Company,

03:21 there are no discussions with the Russians about developing renewable replacements.

03:26 [wind]

03:30 [silence]

03:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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