Haugaland Kraft is in the process of turning Utsira into a living laboratory. It can benefit us all.
HAUGESUND: Pilot customers have been contacted and Utsira municipality is part of the agreement. Haugaland Kraft wants to make Utsira a smart grid and power society.
- We are already working on parts of the project. It will be a large project that will both help our customers to save electricity and reduce the need for expensive investments in the electricity grid, says Stein Inge Morisbak.
He is director of development and digitization at Haugaland Kraft, and who will use Utsira as a test arena for future energy solutions.
Out in the ocean gap at Utsira, with perfect weather conditions to be able to produce electricity, the municipal management is enthusiastic.
UTSIRA
- We will be a living laboratory and we will make the whole island available. We are a small community with around 190 inhabitants, but we are a full-fledged community with schools, nursing homes and public transport. Utsira can be a showcase for the smart power society, says business developer Tore Meinert in Utsira municipality.
Utsira is currently able to cover its electricity needs through a submarine cable from the mainland, and according to the business developer, it will cost Haugaland Kraft several tens of millions of kroner to expand the cable with the capacity to supply electricity to future power-intensive industry on Utsira.
Save money on electricity
That is why Haugaland Kraft is thinking new with a test arena for the technology of the future for production, control and consumption of electricity.
- At Utsira, we will test smart energy management in everything from private homes and commercial buildings, to larger power grids. We want to help our customers to use sustainable energy and save money by using electricity sensibly and in cheaper hours a day - without compromising comfort, says Stein Ingen Morisbak in Haugaland Kraft.
The director of development also envisages that other power companies or companies in other green industries can use Utsira as a test site for the development of digital solutions.
In short, the Utsira project is about producing electricity via solar panels, wind power and possibly wave power. The energy is stored in battery boxes and as hydrogen. There will be energy management of the grid and in buildings from a central location, in this case from Haugaland Kraft.
- This should of course not affect the customers' need for electricity when they need it, but often it is not necessary that the hot water tank is on, or that the electric car charger charges the car at all hours of the day. Perhaps the most important thing is that the car is sufficiently charged for the day and that there is hot water for the morning shower and for the dishes, says Morisbak.
Morisbak says that the project includes both Haugaland kraft Energi and Haugaland Kraft Nett.
Haugesund - Karmøy
- Customers at Utsira will have various smart energy solutions installed. Among other things, a power plug that is the very heart of power saving, says Morisbak.
- Utsira will be a test station - will the results benefit their customers in Haugesund and Karmøy?
- Yes, of course it will. What we do at Utsira we do in parallel with testing and launching future energy solutions to our customers. We are currently installing solar panels on the roof of Haugaland Kraft, so we also use our own office as a test arena. This is about the energy solutions of the future, says Stein Inge Morisbak.
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