Holmen Energi has submitted a permit application to the county administration in Västerbotten to build and operate 26 wind turbines with a maximum height of 300 meters in Robertsfors municipality.
It is planned to be built next to an existing wind farm on Loberget in Umeå municipality and the project area is approximately 25 square kilometers and is called Högaliden 2.
Expected electricity production is 650 GWh per year, which corresponds to the annual use of household electricity in approximately 130,000 households.
Affects four Sami villages
Should the construction become a reality, it will affect the Sami villages of Gran, Svaipa, Malå and Ran, and a reindeer husbandry investigation has been carried out.
The project area for Högaliden 2 lies within Gran Sami village’s winter pastures and adjoins Svaipa Sami village to the west.
“It is located in a border country for several Sami villages where mainly these two are active. At Botsmark there is a narrow passage which is important for Gran Sami village’s collective migration back to the year-round lands and according to the Sami Parliament’s map material, Malå Sami village has a migration path through the project area. Within 15 kilometers of the project area there are several trails and areas of national interest for the reindeer industry. These are located within the lands of Gran, Svaipa, Malå and Ran Sami villages,” the application states.
Directs criticism at the Armed Forces
In the application, Holmen Energi also criticizes the Swedish Armed Forces, which it believes is not transparent enough about why it opposes the establishment of wind power in the area.
Last year, the Swedish Armed Forces believed that the construction of Högaliden 2 would cause significant damage to classified national interests for the military part of the total defence. Something that Holmen thinks is remarkable.
SVT Sápmi has been in contact with the Grans Sami village, which does not want to comment on the issue before they have discussed it during a meeting on January 27.