Originally published in Svenska Dagbladet by Björn Jeffery, November 27, 2025
What happens if Stegra fails? That thought is the company’s strongest bargaining chip right now. Now the state is reaching for its wallet to try to secure the company’s future.
Almost any other Swedish company would have been overjoyed by 390 million kronor. For Stegra, the sum was likely a major disappointment — and considerably less than what they actually needed.
The signal value of the contribution from the Energy Agency may, however, be more important than the money itself. The grant sends a much-needed message to all investors and lenders: the state has not yet given up on Stegra.
It is a complicated situation the company has put itself in. The venture is so large it can be likened to an infrastructure project — something that could affect cities, regions, and the country as a whole.
But unlike other projects of the same calibre, this is being done with private money. In addition to the new contribution, Stegra has admittedly received 1.3 billion kronor in state support. But that figure should be seen in the light of the 72 billion that has come from the private sector. It is a great deal of money in absolute terms, but viewed as a proportion it looks rather meagre.
Whether the state should finance projects of this nature at all is naturally something one can reflect on. There is no shortage of critics of both the idea and the execution when it comes to Stegra.
But when SvD’s Birgitta Forsberg interviewed Pierre-Etienne Franc, CEO of venture capital firm Hy24 and board member of Stegra, he put his finger on a sensitive question. In the interview he says that “Swedish support for Northvolt was not particularly large, and if Stegra were also to fail, that would become a Swedish problem.”
Were Stegra to meet the same fate as Northvolt — regardless of whether the state has financed it or not — it could become a problem for Sweden.
That is, ironically, perhaps Stegra’s best card to play in negotiations over grants and support going forward. One more green failure and an isolated problem suddenly looks like a trend.
Is it no longer possible to run new, entrepreneurially driven industrial projects in Sweden? That is the kind of question one wants to avoid having to answer.
All the parties involved have now created a mildly unhealthy dependence on one another.
Stegra needs continued and expanded financing to keep operating. The financiers — lenders and investors — do not want to bear the entire risk alone, and would prefer to have financing from other sources too. Preferably the Swedish state.
The state does not want to get involved in private projects that could create scandals — but nor does it want Stegra to go under. In particular not in the 2026 election year. That would inevitably splash back onto the Kristersson government as well.
It is against this backdrop that one can view the new 391 million kronor in grants that have now reached Stegra. To TT, Klara Helstad, deputy head of department at the Energy Agency, says that “we have made an independent decision.” That may well be so. But no decision involving hundreds of millions of kronor is made in a vacuum.
In practice, the contribution becomes a much-needed lifeline for Stegra. The state is still in the game, even if not to any great extent. But that signal — that more parties are willing to try to make Stegra work — may be exactly what is needed to secure new funding.
According to the company, 10 billion kronor more is needed. And not a single tonne of green steel has been produced yet.
