Norway

This document, prepared by the International Energy Agency, comes as a follow-up of the 2006 seminar “Renewable heating and cooling – from RD&D to deployment technology and policy” aimed at exploring guidelines and policy initiatives to boost technology development and market deployment for renewable heating and cooling (REHC).

This report provides a brief summary of the technological status of solar thermal technology in Norway.

The report discusses if the use of energy for heating purposes will be possible for Norway in the near future. The utilisation of solar energy to supplement the energy supply has a relatively small distribution in Norway, compared to other Nordic countries such as Denmark and Sweden.

This document is the final report of the project "Solar Thermal Components Adapted to Common Building Standards", involving different universities in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Latvia (Technical University of Denmark, SERC, University of Oslo, Riga Technical University).

This prototype of a plastic absorber by Norwegian company Solarnor was never produced in series. The company filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of the year.
Photo: Solarnor

Everything revolves around the sun: 17 European countries participate in the 3rd edition of the European Solar Days from 1 to 16 May 2010. Around 6,600 events are planned for this year’s campaign, involving several hundred thousand citizens at a local level.
Photo: Fotostudio Pflueg

Since 2008, the Norwegian government has offered a case-by-case subsidy for sports facilities or businesses, which would like to replace their old heating system by a new one receiving its energy from renewable sources. The programme itself is run by Enova, a public enterprise owned by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Support is granted after a financial evaluation of every project applying for a subsidy.

The website www.fornybar.no is just one interesting starting point for Norwegians who like to inform themselves about renewable energy and its benefits.
Source: www.fornybar.no

In August 2008, the Norwegian government introduced a grant scheme for alternative heating and electricity in the residential sector. The scheme is for all those households whose members want to live a greener and more environmentally conscious life. Solar water heaters, pellet boilers and heat pumps enjoy a financial support of 20 % of the documented expenses, up to a maximum of EUR 1,245. So far, 29 solar thermal installations have profited from the incentive programme. You find more information on the Norwegian market here.

Electronic »e-Learning« programmes for solar heating are beginning to gain popularity with training centres in the UK. These are designed to assist training centres in teaching solar domestic hot water installation techniques to apprentices and engineers. Source: www.elearning-shop.co.uk

The next European Solar Days will be celebrated from 1 to 16 May 2010 in 16 European countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia , Spain, Switzerland, Denmark , Norway, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Sweden.

The two weeks event is coordinated by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) in close co-operation with the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and supported by 24 organisations at a national and European level.