Nordic-Baltic green hydrogen network financially viable, study suggests
A proposed hydrogen network linking six countries in the Baltic Sea region could transport up to 2.7m tons a year by 2040, according to a study published Monday suggesting that the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor would be commercially viable.
The study—known as a pre-feasibility study—was conducted as part of an agreement among the transport-system operators in Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in June to develop cross-border pipelines, national grid networks and hydrogen-storage facilities.
The findings should lead to the next step—a feasibility study—that will look more closely at the technical, commercial and financial aspects and establish a timetable for implementation.
Spanning an estimated 2,500km, such a pipeline could become one of Europe’s first cross-border hydrogen pipelines, Ontras Gastransport, which operates gas-transmission systems in Germany, said in a statement.
The 2040 estimate is a decade later than the originally planned— just as it is a decade later than the EU’s own target of 10m tons of hydrogen produced annually using renewable energy. However, a spokesperson for Elering, the Estonian trasnmission-system operator, told Montel, a news outlet, that the final date would depend on the results of further studies.
The eight Nato countries bordering the Baltic Sea, together with Iceland and Norway, have pledged to open their borders to each other’s citizens should they be forced to flee in the event of a disaster. The agreement is an extension of a patchwork of arrangements among some of the countries in the region and will…
The leading opposition party standing in Denmark’s general election on 24 March is suggesting that the 61 billion kroner (€816 million) in subsidies pledged by the Danish state last month to build Bornholm Energy Island would be better spent supporting the development of atomic power. The proposal, put forward by Alex Vanopslagh, the leader of the Liberal Alliance, calls for taking a total of 120 billion kroner in subsidies for renewable-power projects and using the money fund construction of as many as eight atomic-energy plants over the next 15 years.
Though Bornholm Energy Island, which encompasses two offshore windfarms and an onshore power converter, is a Danish project, Germany is its biggest benefactor: in exchange for footing 70% of the bill it will get most of the power the windfarms generate. The setup is one that the Danes worked hard to sell to Berlin, and would make it hard for Mr Vanopslagh to make good on his proposal without Denmark losing face. This is something he is well aware of, suggesting the purpose of making it has more to do with promoting his party’s position that Denmark should overturn its ban on atomic energy than it does with sinking an energy island.
Denmark has reactivated an air-force squadron that will operate four long-range drones to support surveillance of its interests in the Arctic, the North Atlantic and the Baltic. The decision to purchase the American-produced MQ-9B SeaGuardians was announced last year, as was the three-year wait to have them delivered. But building up a drone corps in Denmark will take time as well; the air-force announced yesterday that it will need to hire and train a hundred or so people—many of them civilians—to keep the drones up and running.
The drone purchase is being made with the blank cheque the government gave the military last year, when it ordered it to procure the materiel it deems necessary to scale up its capacity as quickly as possible. Drones, it appears, fit that bill nicely: the SeaGuardians join four saildrones that were sea-trialled in June in preparation for surveillance operations in the Baltic. Compared with crewed systems, the drones are cheap and quickly rolled out.
The saildrones are also American-made, however—a fact that does not sit well with those who would prefer that the military start buying more of its kit in Europe. Other European armies are stocking up on American arms too, though: Germany, Belgium and Poland are all buying SeaGuardians. The saildrones’ producer, for its part, has chosen to set up a European sales office in Copenhagen. Denmark is unlikely to be the last country American drones take over.
When it comes to corruption rankings, there are the Nordics and then there is everyone else. Again this year, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden ended in a log jam at the top of the Corruption Perceptions Index, an annual ranking of perceived corruption in the public sector. Germany rounded out the top 10. The Baltic states (Estonia: 12; Lithuania: 28th; Latvia: 37) are showing that despite some setbacks (including the resignation of Lithuania’s prime minister last year amid a corruption scandal), that they, too, take corruption seriously.
Transparency International, which has produced the report each year since 1995, cautions against easing up against corruption, even in the Nordic countries, but, in the Baltic region, the trends at least are with them: countries with the best records are generally democratic and highly digitalised.
That will show the path for Poland (52). To be sure, it has shown improvement since PiS, an illiberal regime that dismembered the country’s civil-society infrastructure, was voted out of office in 2023, and it finds itself solidly in the top third of the table. Progress, though, has been modest, due to what has been deemed insufficient efforts to undo the damage done by PiS. Russia (157) finished level with Chad, Honduras and Zimbabwe. An outlier in a sea of outliers.
Eolus, a Swedish renewable-energy firm, announced last week that it had given up all but one of its offshore wind projects in the country. The decision was not due to a lack of wind resources; starting in 2021, Eolus began expanding its capacity after evaluating that offshore wind would be necessary—and sufficient—for Stockholm to achieve its power-production targets. Eolus eventually built up a portfolio of projects with a planned capacity of 8.8MW. It blames a slow pace of electrification, as well as regulatory barriers and a lack of political support for making offshore wind unprofitable.
Eolus is not alone in its assessment. Earlier this month, RWS, a German firm, sold its Swedish offshore activities, stating that it was looking for a more dynamic market. On paper, at least, Sweden fits that bill: it is already one of Europe’s largest onshore producers, and, with coastlines along both the North and Baltic seas and an estimated potential in excess of 100MW, it could also be one of its largest offshore producers. That it is not on its way to being so stems, in part, from a 2024 decision by the government to cancel 13 wind farms planned for the Baltic, totalling 32MW and €47 billion in investments.
The cancellation was made due to concerns that Baltic windfarms would just be another target for Russian shenanigans, and that the decision was made on the advice of the military. The industry says that does not explain why Sweden fell behind in the first place. Sweden, it points out has 0.2GW of offshore windfarms, while neighbouring Denmark has up 2.6GW up and running. It also points out that the other countries of the Baltic have been able to balance security concerns with energy needs—and indeed incorporate them. Domestically, the 13 cancelled projects, all of them to have been built in the south, would have been a way for Sweden to balance its grid; currently, producers in the north, where there is a surplus, may only send a limited amount of power to the south, where consumption outstrips demand. By removing the targets, Sweden may be shooting itself in the foot.
For an elusive troll, Bornholm’s Krølle Bølle is surprisingly easy to find. Pop into a tourist shop and you will see his likeness on any sort of merchandise imaginable. Originally a good-night story inspired by local legends and told by its creator to his children, Krølle Bølle was introduced to the rest of Denmark in print eighty years ago this year. Overuse led Krølle-Bølle to be associated with the sort of tourism no-one wants to be associated with, and, for the past few decades, the island’s tourism industry has excluded its most recognisable figure from its marketing. The low point came in 2008, when a dairy on the mainland bought the rights to the Krølle Bølle Is, an ice-cream novelty that came on the market in 1958.
These days, though, Krølle Bølle appears to have been rehabilitated. In 2023, Bornholms Ismejeri, a dairy, brought production of the ice-cream novelty back to the island—upgrading it to a premium-quality product in the process. That same year, the silhouettes of Krølle Bølle and Krølle Borra, his sister, were added to crossing lights at intersections in Rønne, the island’s administrative seat. This weekend, a partly-animated film featuring Krølle Bølle that is due for national distribution premiered in Rønne, marking the first time the figure has appeared on a screen of any sort.
Rumour has it Walt Disney had expressed an interest in co-opting the story for his studio in the 1950s. True or not, ultimately, it took a Bornholmer, Nina Lyng, a producer who was born on the island, to get it on the screen. Part of the film’s magic is the combination of live action and animation, another appears to be the spell it has cast on the local tourism industry: Destination Bornholm, which promotes the island on behalf of the council, describes Krølle Bølle as a symbol of Bornholm’s culture and identity, and is planning an advertising campaign in connection with the film’s national premiere. In other words, Krølle Bølle, is precisely the sort of marketing opportunity it wants to be associated with.
If someone out there was going to make artificial intelligence an inªtegral part of its economy, a good bet would have been Estonia. Already one of the most digitalised countries, it is now looking to systematise its approach to the technology with the aim of increasing the size of its economy by half by 2035 (amounting to an extra €20 billion). Unveiled yesterday by Kristen Michal, the prime minister, and a group of the country’s all-star entrepreneurs, the Eesti.ai initiative will start by identifying the areas where AI stands to make the biggest impact. (The leading candidates are education, healthcare and security.) Once the areas are finalised, public-private partnerships will then be set up to develop applications that can increase productivity.
For a country in Estonia’s situation, such increases are not just nice-to-have. Its population is shrinking, and, all things being equal, when residents do not have enough babies, the labour force contracts. The result must either be fewer services or higher taxes. Immigration is one way to avoid having to make a that choice, but this option is becoming increasingly less viable; population declines are not unique to Estonia, and that is putting skilled labour at a premium throughout Europe. Another is to find ways for the hands that remain to do more work, and here, Estonia is hoping that, AI, in the labour market at least, will make its residents more productive.
Denmark and Germany say they are ready to split the cost of any public funding needed to make sure that Bornholm Energy Island becomes a reality. Essentially a set of offshore windfarms that would double Denmark’s offshore wind capacity, the project, if completed, would send power to 4.5 million Danish and German consumers via its namesake island. More than that, say boosters, it provides a model for other mega energy projects that lawmakers are more keen on than investors.
Locally, the news has been well received. Even the healthiest of economies would find it hard to be unhappy about being the focal point of a multinational project whose final tab is expected to be over €4 billion. Bornholm, meanwhile, is still striken from the implosion of its fishing industry in the 1980s. But while a project of this sort will be good for its budding offshore industry, particularly if an associated industry estate comes to fruition, local lawmakers are still treading carefully: energy firms have yet to deem the project worth putting money into, while those living near the 111 hectare converter station will need be placated (read as: compensated). . Beyond that, there is irony of spoiling a chunk of pristine coastline of Denmark’s most popular tourism destination in the name of clean energy. If being a Danish island is a challenge these days, being a green one is doubly so.
Fourteen countries bordering the Baltic and North seas are pointing the finger at Russia as the source of navigational-signal jamming and ship-identification manipulation that are making their waters increasingly dangerous places to sail. The countries now urge everyone that has anything to do with shipping—flag states, shipping companies and operators, to name three—to be aware of the risks Russian antics pose and ensure their vessels are prepared, should they be forced to make due without electronic navigation systems.
Although the start of Russia’s jamming coincides with its annexation of Crimea, in 2014, the problem grew significantly worse after the start of its unprovoked war against Ukraine, in 2022. Mostly, this has been a problem for its neighbours who are in Nato (Latvia says it saw the number instances of jamming rise to 820 in 2024, compared with 26 in 2022) but, by framing jamming in terms of maritime safety, they are making it an international issue. Up to now, countering jamming has mostly involved making sure that mariners have the skills to sail without satnav—and, most recently, giving them alternative, if lower-tech, systems they can use to navigate by. Coastal states, however, say they will require that vessels adhere to the vast body of international maritime-safety regulations. Call it a pretext for preventative action.
On Thursday, the Baltic’s largest container port reported the best year in its history—for the third year running. Last year, Baltic Hub, a part of the Port of Gdańsk, handled 23% more containers than it did in 2024. The increase is directly tied to the completion in June of T3, the facility’s third deep-water quay, which raised its capacity by a third.
The expansion of Baltic Hub significantly increases its competitive advantage in the region, and puts pressure on other ports to keep pace, but it should not take its edge for granted. Many of its competitors in Poland were already on the decline, due largely to a falling volume of coal shipments, and are making investments of their own in the hopes of reversing their fortunes. The twin port of Świnoujście and Szczecin, for example, is investing 10 million złoty (€2.4 million) in upgrades, including construction of its own deep-water container port. Its capacity will only be half of Baltic Hub’s, but it touts road and railway access, as well as its existing ferry and LNG terminals, as its strong suits. A port cannot thrive on containers alone.