A fire at Nukissiorfiit’s power facility in Uummannaq has left parts of the west Greenland town struggling with electricity, payment problems and a growing threat to frozen fish stocks.
The fire broke out Monday at the town’s power plant, causing a major disruption to electricity supply in Uummannaq, a town of about 1,400 people located on a small island in Uummannaq Fjord, north of Ilulissat.
Nukissiorfiit said Monday that no one had been injured, and that the company was working with emergency responders to handle the situation.
Uummannaq Seasafaris ApS, which gave GreenlandEnergy.com permission to use photographs of the incident, said emergency generators had arrived but that some were not working as expected.
“As of Wednesday, only parts of the town have electricity,” said Paaluk Kreutzmann, director and skipper of Uummannaq Seasafaris ApS.
Kreutzmann said the outage was affecting daily commerce. Credit cards could not be used for shopping, he said, while cash withdrawals were limited to 1,000 Danish kroner per person.
The disruption may also carry a serious cost for the local fishing economy.
Kreutzmann said three fishing factories were at risk of losing fish because their freezers require significant electricity. He estimated the potential loss at up to 60 tons.
“People are working hard to restore the necessary electricity and the daily life,” he said.
According to KNR, Nukissiorfiit director Johan Danielsen said Monday that the cause of the fire was still unknown.
GreenlandEnergy.com provides independent analysis of Greenland’s energy landscape, critical minerals development, and Arctic geopolitics. For corrections or feedback: press@greenlandenergy.com
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