Rise in Solar Energy in Norway

Norway has always taken the SDGs goals seriously in terms of adopting renewable energy, Norway remains exemplary with its highly impressive low carbon emission rates. Over the past decades, Norway produced its renewable energy by utilizing its hydropower which contributed significantly to Norway’s zero carbon emission target. However, considering solar energy, the most prominent website, Solcellepaneler.com, on Norway’s Solar Panel Industry illustrates that Norway recently has been expanding its renewable production due to its increased efficiency and low costs. 

Firstly, it is important to discuss why solar energy was not the first solution to tackle the problem of energy generation. Originally it was thought that since Norway is among those countries that has low temperature and has very frequent rain, solar panels would be would be ineffective and inefficient for power generation. Secondly, to generate large amounts of solar energy, one requires large panels and thus, large open spaces to accommodate those large panels. Norway lacked this land required to install solar panels, which explains why hydropower was considered a better option. 

However, due to advancements in technology, both issues are being solved. Recent research shows that solar panels are very efficient in generating solar energy in Nordic Countries despite of the weather and climatic conditions. In fact, the experimentation conducted by SINTEF shows that cold weather may actually help improve the panels functionality by increasing the output. On the other hand, rain was observed to have no effect on the performance of solar panels. Once it was certain that solar panels are also a good option, Norway had to provide a solution for its land scarcity- which led to the creation of floating solars. Floating Solars, like solar farming is a collection of solar panels, however, floating solars are placed above the ocean.  Thus, by utilizing the vast ocean area, Norway seizes its opportunity to generate power through solar energy. 

Figure 1 Norway Solar Capacity Yearly Analysis Source: Statista

The figure shows the capacity of solar panels in megawatts over the years for Norway. As mentioned earlier, Norway previously had little demand for solar panels due to low solar capacity, but since then researchers have developed better and more efficient solar panels, which has led to a large increase in solar capacity (from 15 MW to 152 MW) within a range of 5 years.

 This increase in capacity also reflects the demand for solar panels. Solar panels are cheaper and have low installation costs as compared to hydropower. Solar panels can be installed on rooftops as well, which can provide a private source of power, furthermore, with private solar panels one can also provide themselves with a backup source in case of emergencies. 

Statistics from Norway’s Water Resources and Energy Directorate further show an upward trend for solar panel installation. In addition to this, an analyst from a solar company predicts that by the year 2030, solar energy through rooftop will be able to provide up to 30–40-Terawatt hours’ worth of electric power. 

Therefore, Norway shows and will continue to show high interest and investments in solar panels. By the help of solar energy, Norway has high prospects for a complete conversion to renewable energy.