Dispute over illegal Norway wind farm continues despite partial deal with reindeer herders

Credit: Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik. December 19, 2023. reuters.com ~~

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Norway has reached a partial agreement with Sami reindeer herders over the fate of the country’s largest wind farm, which the supreme court says infringed on indigenous rights, but the controversy is not over, some herders said on Tuesday.

Norway’s supreme court ruled in 2021 that the Storheia and Roan wind farms in Fosen in central Norway violated Sami rights under international conventions, prompting huge protests earlier this year over the protracted process to implement the ruling.

One group of reindeer herders has now agreed a deal worth some 7 million Norwegian crowns ($674,211) in annual compensation for the continued operations of Storheia, allowing the turbines to stand, operator Fosen Vind said late on Monday.

The agreement includes the procurement of an additional winter grazing area from 2026-2027 and veto right for any plans to extend the wind farm’s operating licences past 2045.

“It is good to reach a conclusion to an unpredictable situation that has lasted for years,” Leif Arne Jaama, the head of the south Fosen group said in a statement.

But there was no agreement for the adjacent 71-turbine Roan wind farm.

Terje Haugen, the head of the north Fosen herder group told Reuters his group has proposed to dismantle 40-45 turbines that scare reindeer away from grazing areas.

“I think they should go for that offer,” Haugen said, adding an alternative grazing area similar to the south Fosen deal was not something his group had considered.

“We hope that we can find an amicable agreement also for north Fosen, as it was possible for south Fosen,” a spokesperson for Roan Vind told Reuters.

Fosen Vind is a joint venture led by state-owned utility Statkraft and including central Norwegian utility Aneo as well as Nordic Wind Power, a European investment consortium.

Roan Vind is owned by Aneo, Germany’s Stadtwerke Muenchen and Nordic Wind Power.

($1 = 10.3825 Norwegian crowns)

Source: Reporting by Nora Buli, editing by Terje Solsvik. December 19, 2023. reuters.com

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