Skellefteå is once again investing billions in green industry following Northvolt’s collapse. But when politicians were set to make a decision on a new hydrogen plant, the entire risk analysis had been manipulated. Now there is growing concern that taxpayers will end up footing the bill.
In early November, the Skellefteå City Council approved investments totaling nearly 2.5 billion kronor for a planned fossil-free jet fuel plant. The entire facility is expected to cost over 30 billion kronor. The SkyKraft project is backed by the municipally owned Skellefteå Kraft and the Dutch company SkyNRG. The initiative is driven, in part, by the EU’s requirements for sustainable aviation fuel.
The risks were concealed in the decision-making documentation
According to The business worldIn the review, both the profitability assessment and the two-page risk analysis were redacted from the decision-making documentation. Despite this, 52 members voted in favor of the initiative, while only the Christian Democrats (KD) and the Sweden Democrats voted against it. The KD’s caucus leader Per Boström questions why a municipal company should bear the business risk.
– If the business idea is viable enough, it’s up to the market to take the risk. Not ours, with a municipal company.
This was despite the fact that Northvolt’s battery factory was located in Skellefteå. That crash is considered one of the worst ever in Sweden.
No customers—a billion-krona bill looms
The plant still lacks binding customer contracts. At the same time, the municipality is set to spend 1.12 billion kronor on soil remediation, with no guarantee that the money will be recouped through the sale of the land. Skellefteå Kraft’s CEO Joachim Nordin defends the confidentiality on the grounds that competitors should not be given access to the information and states that politicians were offered the opportunity to review the material.
City officials promise profitability
Chair of the Municipal Executive Board Lorents Burman (S) expects Skellefteå Kraft to eventually sell part of its stake to private investors. He assures that the investment will not result in a loss. At the same time, the redacted documents raise the issue of public transparency and independent risk assessment before any further decisions involving billions are made.
It's obvious that it's a Social Democrat who's in charge when it comes to swindling citizens out of their hard-earned tax money.
The Social Democrats love to play games and gamble with our tax money, so now they're going to bet on Northvolt 2.0 again.
"Shoot those pigs," I say!!!