Longyearbyen · 78.22 N 15.63 E

Svalbard Wire

Est. 2026

Everything said about Svalbard, in one place

Sunday 25 October 2026Before the Wire, which starts 26 October 2026Report

Back to the front of 25 October

After coal

Hotellneset power plant: streets dug up from 2028, plant ready in 2031

Svalbard WirePublished 28 OctoberReport by the Wire.

Hotellneset, a snow-covered peninsula reaching into a calm fjord under a pale golden sky, with a long runway, a few buildings and a port along the shore, and white radar domes on the ridge above.
The Hotellneset peninsula, where the new power plant is to be built. File picture, April 2022. Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Groundwork for the new power and heating plant at Hotellneset in Longyearbyen is due to start in spring 2027, and the plant is planned to be ready in 2031. Store Norske and Svalbard Energi (the town's energy company) presented the plans at a public meeting, Store Norske said.

The power and district-heating networks are to be renewed street by street up to 2035, with most of the work from 2028. Store Norske said this means excavators in the streets, short interruptions in power and heat, some construction noise, closed roads and detours. Each area is to be affected for a limited period only.

The plant will stand on permafrost, with its own cooling system keeping the ground frozen. Digging can only be done in summer, while the ground is thawed, and the ground then takes six to eight months to freeze again before building can start. The tank facility is built for a town with no backup from the mainland and is to hold enough fuel at all times.

"All of us who live here have felt in our bodies how important a stable energy supply is," Torstein Sole-Gärtner, managing director of Svalbard Energi, said at the meeting (translated).

Longyear Energiverk, a dark industrial power station with a tall concrete chimney and steam rising, beside a snow-covered road under a clear blue sky.
Longyear Energiverk, the power station in Longyearbyen, with its chimney beside the road. File picture, March 2024. Photo: Ssu, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

The plant will first run on diesel, to keep supply reliable during a transition, Store Norske says. A concept study recommends a later mix of solar and wind power, batteries, heat storage and controllable production such as diesel.

The government put the steering framework for the first phase of the upgrade (2026 to 2028, covering a new diesel plant and the tank facility) at 1.2 billion Norwegian kroner and its cost framework at 1.36 billion in October 2025, when it proposed moving the energy supply from Longyearbyen lokalstyre (the local council) to Store Norske, with a loan of 374 million kroner for the first phase. The government proposes in the 2027 budget to raise the state grant to Svalbard Energi by 33.7 million kroner to 152.5 million, to lower energy prices and cover the upgrade's capital costs, NRK reported.

Sysselmesteren (the Governor of Svalbard) put the assessment programme for the plant and tank facility out for hearing in April. The proposal is to move the power plant away from the areas near the town centre.

Questions and comments go to the project team at katrin.haram@snsk.no, Store Norske said.

Updated 30 October 2026: This report was rewritten with Store Norske's account of the public meeting.

Correction, 31 October 2026: an earlier version gave the 1.2 billion and 1.36 billion kroner frameworks as covering the whole upgrade. The government gives them for the first phase, 2026 to 2028: the new diesel plant and the tank facility. It also said the 2027 budget raises the grant to Svalbard Energi and that the plant moves away from the town centre. Both are proposals.

Coverage: The Governor of Svalbard (Sysselmesteren), NRK

Back to the front of 25 October