Norway: No backup solutions
When power, water and networks fail, many municipalities have no backup solutions. That could hit residents in crisis or war.
That is the finding of a new report from the Norwegian Municipal Engineering Association (NKF), published on October 26. The association asked 30 municipalities whether they can keep essential buildings running when critical services fail.
Shelters not ready
Of the 29 municipalities that answered the shelter question, 16 said their shelters cannot be operational within 72 hours. Ten reported partial readiness, and only three said yes. According to NKF, some shelters have become storage rooms or rehearsal spaces, while others have poor ventilation or blocked exits.
Kirsti Kierulf, managing director of NKF, says buildings and physical infrastructure have received too little attention in municipal emergency planning. The report points to a gap between having a plan and being able to carry it out.
Power, water and digital systems
Backup power: Only nine of 30 municipalities have generators with fully adequate capacity. Nine say their capacity is insufficient.
Water: 19 have no alternative water supply for critical buildings such as emergency coordination centers, schools and nursing homes.
Digital: 22 lack a solution that can quickly replace cloud services in an outage. Only six have critical documentation available without internet access.
Who will pay?
17 of 30 municipalities have no dedicated budget for preparedness in critical buildings. Kierulf says municipal finances leave little room for major investments.
NKF wants municipalities to prioritize upgrades in their 2027 plans and is calling for national funding in the 2028 state budget. These are the association’s proposals, not approved appropriations.
it is interesting how Norway will deal with the challenges with the energy hunger of AI data centers. In opposite to Sweden and Finland Norway has at least a national strategy about those centres..