A floating nuclear power plant supports subsea resource extraction.
An offshore platform operator surveys an ice-encroached drilling rig, where fossil infrastructure remains a cornerstone of Arctic energy supply.
Solar arrays and modular battery shelters provide supplemental energy to remote Arctic settlements—functional during low-sun months only when paired with advanced storage systems.
Summit Essay
The Arctic Power Game
— Sigrid Jørgensen, Founder and Chair of ARCTECH SummitThirty years ago, when I first traveled north, I understood energy to be merely logistical—diesel generators, ship fuel, scattered power lines. Today, I understand it to be a far more strategic asset.
The fundamental limitations remain stark: temperatures below -50°C that freeze equipment and shatter materials, months of winter darkness rendering solar unreliable without massive storage, and severely restricted access for fuel delivery and repairs. The High North that we now know hosts an “energy pluralism” born of necessity and strategy.
Floating Nuclear Power Plants with RITM-200 reactors project power along the Northern Sea Route. Climate-hardened wind turbines stand on exposed coastlines. Tidal arrays harvest Arctic currents. And despite decades of renewable promises, oil and gas infrastructure—perhaps written off too prematurely by environmental optimists—continues to meet persistent global demand.
Energy defines the limits of possibility in the Arctic. Whoever controls power controls the future.
"The Arctic is where pragmatism meets reality," Dr. Isha Sharma, Chief Strategist for the Arctic Energy Resilience Accord, told me during her recent visit.
In the Arctic, reliable power isn't a luxury—it's survival. A single failed battery system or interrupted fuel supply can render monitoring networks blind, surveillance systems deaf, and defense installations vulnerable. This reality shapes every aspect of the Arctic power strategy.
Eventhough construction in harsh Arctic conditions means progress is often slower and more expensive than initially projected, the emerging power infrastructure beneath Arctic waters tells its own story. Undersea cables form distinct networks—some connecting regional settlements across shorter distances, with longer transoceanic links still in development phases, others linking facilities along the entire Northern Sea Route.
Will these systems connect, or has energy self-sufficiency become the new imperative in a region where independence determines whether communities thrive or face abandonment?
At ARCTECH45, we hope to explore the next frontiers of Arctic energy: increasingly cold-resistant storage solutions, advanced propulsion systems that can navigate increasingly unpredictable ice, and resilient power distribution networks . These innovations will determine not just who can operate in the Arctic, but who can thrive there.
By Sigrid Jørgensen | Photographs by Jeffrey Götleman
Sigrid and Jeffrey travelled together to speak to the different keynote speakers for this story [March 29 2045]
Sigrid and Jeffrey travelled together to speak to the different keynote speakers for this story [March 29 2045]