Green industrial symbiosis and green hydrogen development in Ånge municipality
About this good practice
Since several decades Ånge municipality face severe challenges with depopulation and harvesting of natural resources with little or no local value creation, especially related to hydro- and wind power production. In 2019, the municipality's leaders recognized the need to identify its unique strengths to reverse the trend. These were summarized as a massive access to renewable energy, land and infrastructure.
In recent years, permissions to establish new green energy production have reduced significantly in Sweden. One reason is that local societies do not accept these establishments due to the limited local value creation they bring back. In Ånge this became a reason for the municipality to cooperate with private companies within the renewable energy sector, in order to find win-win paths towards a sustainable local development.
The cooperation soon came to focus on job creation through green hydrogen and industrial symbiosis with the ambition to identify and make good business cases available for entrepreneurs and SMEs related to the green hydrogen value chain and its by-products. By using small-municipality strengts such as short decision-making paths, closeness to civil society and the private sector, that vision on the napkin have now grown to several projects, involving billion euro investments amounting to approximately 500 000 euros per inhabitant.
Resources needed
Belief and determination from municipality leaders as well as key actors in the private sector. The municipality's work is so far financed through the municipality budget. Known private financing in the projects amounts by today to 1-2 billion euros.
Evidence of success
Ånge was awarded the Hydrogen Award and best business growth in the region in 2024. Projects have grown to 900 MW of green hydrogen production capacity, allocated to three sites run by two private actors. The municipality own the land on one of the three sites, but the vision of building industrial symbiosis is in focus at all three locations. Number of actors involved increase monthly, and stretch from land-based fish farming and green houses, to eSAF aviation fuel and green steel production.
Potential for learning or transfer
Direct transferrability is limited due to that the approach is based on locally grounded strenths and challenges. However, the Ånge approach for local sustainable development could be interesting to mainly smaller municipalities that have the ability to use strengths such as short decision-making paths and closeness to the surrounding society. Further, it should be of interest to other municipalities with the same main strengts and challenges as Ånge; extensive access to green energy, land and infrastructure, and less financial resources and inhabitants. This should be valid for many municipalities in northern Sweden, but also in other Nordic countries, which have great abilities to produce energy but few or no off-takers nearby. Broader, the way the municipality manage to organize the work with scarce resources, effectiveness and accuracy in efforts made, and the building of strategic cooperations, could be of interest to other European municipalities and regions.
