H2 Green Steel plans to build the world’s largest hydrogen plant in Boden.
YrkesAkademin and Boden Business Park are now launching a competence centre in green hydrogen with the aim of giving more people the opportunity to work with the industry of the future.

The transformation of society in Boden will place new demands on the labour market. Both among entrepreneurs and employees. Hydrogen is one of these examples where there will be an expectation from the industry, around a basic understanding of the process and what is required to do the job safely.

Therefore, there is also a need to create training in these areas and make them available to more people, and this is exactly what will happen at the competence centre via Boden Business Park and the Skills Academy.

– We always strive to work with the best in the business and this is an opportunity to do just that. The Academy gives us the opportunity to create training courses where we can create an understanding of hydrogen so that it becomes as natural as electricity and district heating are today,” says Thomas Fägerman, CEO of Boden Business Park.

This week, the EU Social Fund granted SEK 1 857 602 to a project run by the Skills Academy. The project – Green Transition – aims to provide green hydrogen skills development to technicians, operators, production and logistics staff. Interventions that risk being neglected during the pandemic.

The support will now be used to develop training content, based on the needs and wishes of the sector, which will be made available to more people by offering it in a digital format. This will also be the start of the centre of excellence on hydrogen and the green societal transition.

– “It’s great that we at YrkesAkademin have the opportunity to be part of the green transition in the north. Together with the municipality of Boden, H2Green Steel, Luleå municipality and other companies in the region, we will through the approved ESF project develop available training in green hydrogen, says Anna-Carin Herdebrant, Business Area Manager for Private and Corporate Training at YrkesAkademin.

Among the companies that will have employees and volunteers participating in the training are H2 Green Steel, Vattenfall, Rabbalshede Kraft, BDX and Onepartnergroup.

Luleå Business Region is also a partner.

YrkesAkademin has also applied to start a vocational training programme – Green Hydrogen – Application and Development – in Boden and Luleå. The programme is equivalent to vocational education at post-secondary level and comprises 60 credits. The decision from the Swedish Agency for Higher Education is expected in May.

– It is important that we can make the difficult simple and offer education in the field at other levels than university studies,” says Anna-Carin Herdebrant.

According to Thomas Fägerman, the proximity to both industry and education at Boden Business Park creates optimal conditions for being at the forefront and creating relevant education that contributes to the green social transition.

– The fact that YrkesAkademin also offers digital courses means that we are accessible to more people than if there were a physical course on site, and that’s a very good thing as we want to broaden the knowledge and understanding of green hydrogen,” he says.