Designing for reliability in extreme conditions
Have you ever heard of Longyearbyen? Maybe not. This small Norwegian town, named after its American founder, is situated in Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Longyearbyen is a very special place. That also makes securing the town's future energy production and infrastructure a very special assignment.
When it’s minus 45 degrees Celsius, reliability becomes top priority
From the Norwegian capital, Oslo, there are over 1,000 kilometres to the northernmost part of mainland Norway. From there, it’s roughly another 1,000 kilometres across the sea to Svalbard where Longyearbyen is found.
With Greenland to the left and the Barents Sea to the right, the islands that make up Svalbard are cold. Some call it an Arctic desert. In winter, temperatures are below minus 10 degrees Celsius and go down to minus 45. On the warmest summer days, temperatures can reach 5 to 10 degrees Celsius.
After being used as an occasional base by whalers, Longyearbyen was founded on the island of Spitsbergen as a permanent settlement in the beginning of the 20th century. Today, it has a permanent population of approximately 2,600 people.
Longyearbyen is a once-in-a-lifetime project, but COWI in Norway works on exciting projects in different parts of Norway. We are looking for specialists and project managers to join our teams. Check out our open positions if you want to be part of an amazing team.
A challenging area for people ...
... but with the ambition to be an attractive place to live.
Longyearbyen is sometimes referred to as 'the northernmost town in the world with a full range of services'. It was founded as a coal-mining town, but now exists mainly for research, tourism, education and satellite operations.
Over the coming 15–25 years, Longyearbyen will undergo a far-reaching modernisation and future-proofing covering three areas: energy transition, climate adaptation and infrastructure resilience. Together, these make up a major investment and are among the biggest and most ambitious projects ever planned in Norway.
Energy transition
Since Longyearbyen’s original coal power plant was closed in October 2023, the town has relied on a costly and vulnerable temporary diesel-based system. To make a future-proof solution, a project in three work packages has been approved to upgrade the entire power and heating system on Svalbard.
Work package one, 2026 - 2030:
- construction of a new main energy facility to ensure a reliable energy source for district heating and power. The energy system is initially designed to use diesel but will be extended to include renewable energy solutions.
- The new energy facility is a major construction effort in Longyearbyen and involves industrial buildings, energy infrastructure, logistics and a permafrost-adapted foundation.
Work package two, 2031 - 2035:
- upgrade of downstream energy systems, both power and district heating.
Work package three, 2035 - ...:
- construction of renewable energy alternatives to reduce diesel runtime.
Building something on Svalbard is cool
The engineering and construction challenges of building something on Svalbard make it highly attractive to ambitious professionals.
It is technically exciting and demanding to design solutions that work in an Arctic desert where the climate is extremely cold, immensely windy and snowy. The area is harsh for people to live in, but with the ambition of attracting young families, the island needs modern facilities and an infrastructure that always works. Structures must also overcome warming permafrost layers, freezing cold conditions, months without daylight and strict environmental constraints in the unique archipelago.
For engineers and specialists alike, all this makes working on projects on Svalbard cool. To build something on Svalbard is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Furthermore, Svalbard is of national interest to Norwegians. In a world where the Arctic region is in focus, Svalbard is a strategically important area and considered part of the country’s sovereignty.
Upgraded district heating network and supporting infrastructure
Through work packages one and two, the district heating network in Longyearbyen undergoes a complete upgrade. When designing pipelines, permafrost is a precondition that dictates that pipelines are supported above ground to prevent degradation due to frost heave.
While permafrost is still a precondition, the archipelago is subject to climate change. Rising temperatures mean that new structures on Svalbard cannot be built directly on the permafrost but require alternative foundation solutions.
Your next project
… could also be as part of a team of clever professionals working on buildings, infrastructure, water or energy. Are you ready to make real impact while advancing your development?
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