The stories of hydropower are changing

Hydropower in Sweden has brought economic growth and technological development, but also long-term consequences for the landscape, local communities, and people's lives. New research shows the consequences and experiences of hydropower expansion through two hydropower projects from different eras: Laholm in Halland County and Akkats in Norrbotten County.

"To understand the long-term effects of large industrial establishments and energy projects, it is important to know how people's relationship to hydropower projects, among other things, changes over time, not least through how people talk about, remember, and interpret the power plants," says Felicia Söderqvist, a researcher in history at Luleå University of Technology who has written a dissertation on hydropower projects.

History and cultural heritage are used by various actors to legitimize or question hydropower. Even the narratives of hydropower companies have changed over time with regard to hydropower construction projects. For example, the greenhouse effect and parts of the complexity of ecosystems were not known when the two construction projects studied were initiated, nor was it known how people would adapt to the changes. From the beginning, the electricity companies' narratives focused on industrial development and modernization. Against the backdrop of the greenhouse effect, hydropower has increasingly been highlighted as a fossil-free and renewable energy source.

Distinctive agricultural landscape

The two hydropower projects studied are different in many ways, for example, the time when they were built. Planning for the hydropower plant in Laholm began as early as the beginning of the 20th century, and it was completed in 1932, far downstream on the Lagan River. Laholm is a distinctly agricultural landscape, where salmon fishing has also been an important source of income. In the surrounding area are the ruins of a castle, with roots in the Middle Ages. Out of consideration for cultural values, the Sydsvenska power company said it wanted to build the power plant so that it would harmonize architecturally with the landscape and the ruins of Laholm Castle. Since the power plant contributed to disrupting the salmon's migration routes, an experimental salmon farm was built in Laholm at the same time, which still exists today. Today, the power plant is not only a source of energy, but also a base for the local tourism industry, together with the castle ruins and the salmon farm.

The Akkats power station, just outside Jokkmokk, was part of a series of power plant projects built after World War II in the Lilla Luleälven river. It was completed in 1973. Forestry in the area was, and still is, extensive. The ice on the river was an important transport route for forestry in winter, but also important for private use and reindeer herding. However, hydropower, together with factors such as climate change, has contributed to the ice becoming more treacherous in many places during winter. In the beginning, hydropower had to be adapted to the floating of timber to the coast. As motorization and the road network expanded, the forestry industry chose other transport routes and timber floating disappeared. Since other power plant projects had already impaired fishing in the river, Akkats was presented as another contributing factor to this.

Fond memories

An important observation made in the thesis is that many people around Jokkmokk have fond memories of the expansion period, but at the same time mourn what was lost.

They remember the growth and optimism that characterized the area when hydropower was developed. Today, Jokkmokk is more of a place of emigration. Many people miss the golden years that have gone, while at the same time mourning how the hydroelectric power plant changed the landscape and the conditions for living and working with it, not least when it comes to traditional livelihoods such as reindeer herding and fishing," says Felicia Söderqvist.

A crucial difference between the two power plants in the research project is that there are very few, if any, Laholm residents who remember the time before the power plant dam. The Laholm plant has been reinterpreted to a relatively greater extent as part of the landscape and as a local industrial cultural heritage. The Akkats power plant is just over forty years younger, and many people living around Jokkmokk still remember when the river flowed freely and how people lived by and with the river at that time. This is what is interpreted as cultural heritage, a heritage that has been lost.

Art project at the hydroelectric power plant

The stories from Akkats were also influenced by the fact that the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities gradually gained greater prominence in the public debate. In this context, Vattenfall chose to recruit three artists, two of whom were Sami, to create works of art inspired by Sami culture at the Akkats hydroelectric power plant. The works of art, three motifs collectively known as Uvssat davás, ‘The Doors to the West’, were inaugurated in 2000 and were controversial. Were they a recognition of the Sami cultural landscape, or were they a clumsy attempt to buy social acceptance in a region where many felt that hydropower had had destructive effects on Sami culture and land use? Opinions differed, and still do.

In Laholm and Lagan, a fishing and environmental movement has emerged over the past decade. The movement argues that damaged waters should be restored and become the basis for a more sustainable environment and tourism. As knowledge of ecological systems has increased and the focus has shifted, species other than salmon and eel have attracted attention in the river, in this case mainly the endangered river pearl mussel.

In her thesis, Felicia Söderqvist has used court documents, government documents, maps, photographs, newspaper articles, and company archives, among other sources. Interviews with people in each location have also been an important source, as has field documentation of cultural landscape changes in both river valleys. An overall conclusion is that it can be difficult to predict the ecological and social consequences of large-scale industrial projects.

• Hydropower Legacies, Long-term consequences of hydroelectric power stations in Southern and Arctic Sweden