business
Scathing Statements From the Northern Norwegian Business Sector:
“There Is No Norwegian Arctic Policy”
Bodø, Northern Norway (High North News): Entrepreneur Frode Nilsen of LNS strongly criticizes the government's Arctic policy, electricity situation and lack of infrastructure in the North. "A lot of strategy without action," says Nilsen.
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In the year of Total Preparedness 2026, there is much talk about robust communities in the North with a strong civilian footprint.
The Norwegian white paper on total preparedness from last year presents Northern Norway, once again, as the country's 'most important strategic area, where civilian resilience is directly linked to national sovereignty and military defense ability.'
For Northern Norwegian business actors, there is a wide gap between the government's rhetoric and reality.
"We do not have the robust population they speak of in the Arctic. Our region has been depleted over a long period," says the Director of the family-owned contracting firm Leonhard Nilsen & Sons (LNS), Frode Nilsen.
The Andøya native was one of the speakers at Innovation speech 2026, which, for the first time, was held outside the capital, this time in Bodø.
All talk, no action
For Nilsen, the government’s High North policy is not worth more than the paper it is written on.
"The High North policy has a particular ability to come up at every election, but little of the policy is put into practice. It is all talk and no action. A lot of strategy without implementation," says Nilsen.
"A lot of the fishery resources have been moved southward, and the fishers are left with nothing. How can we expect to have a robust population when people are not allowed to fish from their own resources? he asks.
"And over time, the reindeer husbandry industry has gained enormous rights, and a ban on developing peatland is now being proposed."
Power stop
"In total, there is basically only a skerry on the Helgeland coast available for building anything at all. And if we still manage to get a project that could be viable, it is stopped by the County Governor," says Nilsen bluntly.
The final nail in the coffin came from Statnett, that operates the central Norwegian power grid, two weeks ago, with a temporary halt to reservations of grid capacity for all new power consumption above 5 megawatts north of Svartisen in Nordland. To secure the power supply in the area.
"What would have happened if this had been introduced in Southern Norway? There would still be live broadcasts on TV about it," says Nilsen.
No rail investment
Infrastructure, or the lack of it in Northern Norway, is a whole other story. The region can forget about the railway in Northern Norway, which the current government campaigned on.
"And it is a scandal that there is no double track on the Ofoten Line. With Finland and Sweden in NATO, what will happen in a possible crisis? Northern Norway is the sole gateway for the transport of goods and services eastward," says Nilsen.
One thing is the transport of military personnel and equipment, but the transport corridor via Northern Norway must also supply the inhabitants of these areas.
"I do not quite understand how we are going to manage that. We must at least try to develop infrastructure as well as we can now, because preparedness is about excess capacity, about what you already have before the crisis occurs," states Nilsen.
Like drunken sailors
This is about resources. Nilsen refers to Trump's desire for Greenland and the mineral agreement with Ukraine, which he believes showcases how badly the Norwegian government's strategy is failing.
"By the middle of the 2030s, we will only have half of the copper reserves that society requires, and the same applies to other metals and minerals. We have far too little, and the current crisis will only intensify. And what do we do? We electrify," says Nilsen.
According to the Norwegian Directorate of Mining, each Norwegian inhabitant consumes almost 15 tonnes of minerals and metals every single year.
"We use minerals the way drunken sailors spend money. Norway is the country in the world that uses the most copper per inhabitant, and our children and grandchildren will ask how on earth we could use up all the resource in the twenties. But we just keep going," says the contractor from Andøya.
Must manage on our own
Frode Nilsen is concerned about the lack of consideration for consequences as the crises around us grow.
"It is concerning," says Nilsen, who realizes that it may sound strange when criticism of mineral use comes from a company that owns the Skaland Graphite mine in Troms as well as parts of the Nussir copper mine in Finnmark.
"But we must start thinking about how we use resources going forward," says Nilsen.
The unthinkable has become thinkable
"Because we have to manage on our own in the North."
Look to Vardø
Frode Nilsen asks the rest of Northern Norway to look to Vardø and the plan the municipality has launched, precisely to manage on its own in crisis and war.
As Norway’s easternmost town, Vardø has a strategic location near Russia and is home to the Globus II radar system, located 28 kilometers from the Russian border. The radars are joint projects between Norway and the United States, involving the Norwegian Intelligence Service and the US Space Force.
The inhabitants of Vardø know that the municipality is an obvious target for Russian bombers in war. And that they can hardly expect help from the South.
That is why the municipality has started a process to strengthen preparedness in order to cope on its own.
Wise from experience
In both 2017 and 2019, Russia practiced tactical bombing attacks against Vardø. The municipality is now restoring, among other things, old bomb shelters that were built after the town was burned down by the Nazis during the Second World War. They have also purchased equipment, power generators and emergency diesel stockpiles.
The emergency food stockpile is intended to last for six months if the only road, a tunnel, to the mainland is closed. In addition, grants have been given to sheep farmers to increase the number of sheep.
As the commandant of Vardøhus Fortress, Jan Erik Meldgaard, says:
"The unthinkable has become thinkable."
"It is frightening, but I think everyone must think like Vardø Municipality," concludes Frode Nilsen of LNS.
You can watch a video from Vardø here (the article continues):
If there is war, the inhabitants of Vardø municipality know they are an obvious target for Russian bombers. The municipality has now started a process to strengthen preparedness in order to cope on its own.
No food preparedness
Liv-Monica Stubholt is chair of the board of Gigante Salmon and a board member of Green Ammonia Berlevåg, and dryly notes that the Total Preparedness Report managed to exclude food preparedness in a country that probably has one of the world's largest protein reserves along its coast.
"It took several rounds of input before the total preparedness report managed to capture the importance of fisheries and aquaculture, and in other ways," says Stubholt, who followed Frode Nilsen during the Innovation Speech at Stormen Library in Bodø, Northern Norway.
She was no milder in tone than Nilsen in her view of preparedness efforts in the North, and agreed with Nilsen regarding the energy supply crisis. Because the power situation in the North was already critical before Statnett's power stoppage.
Delayed power line
"Contingency analyses describe East Finnmark as one of the most important regions to defend in Norway. Nevertheless, there is not enough electricity, and people have struggled for years to get the power line upgraded," says Stubholt.
It recently became known that the major power line to be built between Skaidi and Lebesby in Finnmark has increased massively in cost, from NOK 1.5–1.7 billion to NOK 7.2–9.3 billion.
The power line is being built to secure the electricity supply in East Finnmark. It is two years behind schedule and is estimated to be completed in 2032, writes Nettavisen.
A project of helplessness
"It is a project of resignation and helplessness when you do not have a power line to export the wind power found on the Finnmark plateau, but instead have to start producing ammonia and hydrogen as an emergency solution in an attempt to convert the assets into something that can be exported from the area."
She repeats the worn-out message from the Armed Forces that “the battle to protect Troms is the battle to protect Norway”. But there is not enough electricity there either.
"Then the authorities say that no one in Tromsø has requested more power. So people in Tromsø have to put themselves on a list of those who want more power. We still do not know how that will go," says Stubholt drily.
No one to complain to
Among other things, the new submarine base in Ramsund, Troms, is not receiving the electricity it needs. This has led to political demands for the government to take action to secure the power supply. Ironically, the only large city in Norway without a direct connection to the national grid is in Northern Norway.
The power problems keep coming. The processing of applications for licenses to develop new power generation is slow. Applications are left without active processing for long periods, and “the applicants do not even have anyone they can ring up and complain to”, according to Stubholt.
At the same time, there are opportunities for small, privately owned hydropower plants.
A number of applications to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate
"This is conflict-free energy development where a landowner can build a small hydropower plant for themselves, and perhaps five households. There are currently a number of applications with the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) for the granting of licenses for small hydropower plants."
But several of the projects have been left for two to three years without being assigned a case officer, Stubholt explains. She calls it a catastrophe scenario.
No parallel societies
"If there is no electricity, there is no business sector. If there is no business sector, there is no security preparedness. The Armed Forces are very clear about this. Without a robust civilian society as a foundation, it does not matter how much money you spend on defense," says Liv Monica Stubholt.
She says that the Armed Forces cannot establish an independent parallel society separate from civilian society.
"They must rely on civil society and local business."
It is urgent
She believes there is too little contact and initiative from the authorities to explain to a willing and patriotic business community how they can cooperate and plan preparedness. And now it is urgent.
"How can power and grid companies cooperate with the Armed Forces and the Home Guard?" asks Stubholt, listing drones, surveillance and protection of critical infrastructure.
"The Armed Forces only enter the picture when we're close to a war situation. Until then, businesses must cooperate with the police, who know far too little about how to plan preparedness together with businesses. We are years behind where we should be. It is late, but not too late," Stubholt reassures.
Must cooperate
She concludes with some advice for Innovation Norway and director Håkon Haugli:
Development of larger projects and areas where businesses can cooperate, support each other and establish a circular economy. Such as the New City project in Bodø.
As Bodø mayor Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen (Conservative) puts it:
"Ultimately, it is about how we get people to live here, and the simple answer is a job."
This, in turn, requires good conditions for private companies that create jobs.
Støre: Buy mittens
"The moment things go off, we cannot fly in a civil society. They must already be here," emphasizes history professor Stian Bones at UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Or, to put it in Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s (Labor) words when he was asked about preparedness in Northern Norway:
"Just buy mittens."
