Towards sustainable Arctic solar power

The vision of Arctic Renewable Energy Oy Ltd., located in Pello, on the border of Finland and Sweden in western Lapland (Finland), is to produce green electricity and hydrogen as ecologically and profitably as possible for the rapidly growing needs of industry, transports and tourism in northern Finland & Sweden.

The company’s goal is to create industrial class solar parks in Western Lapland, which enjoys a favorable microclimate and good infrastructure. ARE Park Pello One, the company’s pilot solar park is scheduled for completion in 2026 in a former sand mining site in Orajärvi village in northern Pello. The site is located just next to the E8 highway. In the second half of this decade, our company plans to build several significantly bigger solar parks using technologies adapted to Arctic conditions.

In the longer term, when the development of technology makes it possible, our vision is to develop solar power plants that produce arctic green hydrogen directly by sunlight-driven photocatalyst panels.

Our solar parks are as ecological and sustainable as possible (for example, we will try to avoid cutting down forests or converting farmland) and aimed to be highly beneficial to local communities.

WHY SOLAR POWER FOR THE ARCTIC?

In addition to energy self-sufficiency and the fight against climate change, there are numerous reasons to invest in Arctic solar power. Here are a few:

• Thanks to wind and hydropower, western Lapland in Finland has excellent mains networks and other infrastructure.
• There is a growing demand for green electricity and hydrogen in northern Finland and Sweden, for example with the boom in carbon dioxide-free industry, transportation and tourism. Also new needs of the region’s innovative steel industry are huge.
• There is lots of space in Lapland (the density of population is the lowest in EU), reasonable land rents, and the acceptance of solar power by the location population.
• The construction of solar parks in the European north is ecological. Here, for example, there is almost no need to cut down forests or decommission farmland to make way for solar power plants.
• Western Lapland benefits from the nightless night of midsummer and the Foehn effect caused by the Scandinavian mountains, which creates a unique microclimate.
• New double-sided solar cell technologies enable the utilization of radiation reflected from the snow and make the operation even more profitable.
• When there is no wind in Finland and Sweden, a huge amount of other green electricity is needed. The Nordic climate is characterized by the fact that it is rarely very windy when the sun is shining.