Eight meters separate the two large warehouse buildings of Malvik Fryselager AS in Trøndelag. Even if the operations are the same and the owners the same, they are not allowed to exchange the electricity they themselves produce between the buildings. The Norwegian regulations put a stop to that. – We are not allowed to exchange electricity between two buildings with different farm and utility numbers. We have to sell the electricity to the grid, and buy it back for a more expensive price. That’s what general manager Trond Kvam says. Malvik Fryselager has invested just over ten million kroner in solar cells on the roof of its warehouse buildings. Photo: Bent Lindsetmo / news Not allowed to use surplus power He is upset that the regulations do not make it possible to share surplus power from one building to another. – On one building, we produce more electricity than we consume, and on the other, in periods less electricity is produced than we consume. It should be easy to be able to exchange electricity that we produce ourselves between our own commercial buildings, says Kvam. The power they produce on the roof of the two buildings makes up 20 percent of the total power requirement. The buildings have a total of 15,000 square meters. The regulatory authority for energy, RME, is currently working to change the regulation that regulates the sharing of self-produced renewable electricity. The government is working to strengthen the possibility of local energy production at industrial parks and commercial property, says State Secretary Elisabeth Sæther. Photo: Even Bjøringsøy Johnsen / news Proposal for consultation The government has had a proposal for a solution for consultation. – The proposal means that customers on the same property can join together to produce renewable power, and be exempt from electricity tax and network rent when they consume the power they have produced themselves. That’s according to State Secretary Elisabeth Sæther (Ap) in the Ministry of Oil and Energy. It was proposed to limit the scheme to installations of up to 500 kW per property. After the hearing, the government decided to increase this limit to 1,000 kW per property. – The government is now working further to map regulatory barriers as a step in facilitating more establishment of local energy production. The mapping focuses on projects that are socially profitable, and will primarily emphasize energy production in connection with industrial parks and commercial property, says Sæther. The solar cell systems on the roof of the two buildings of Malvik Fryselager will produce one million kW a year, and are therefore far above the limit in the proposal from the government. The Conservative Party wants the regulations to be softened quickly so that it becomes possible to transfer electricity from solar cells between buildings with different farm and use numbers in a business park, according to Storting representative Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde. Photo: Bent Lindsetmo / news Old-fashioned regulations – We have old-fashioned regulations that make it unprofitable to build solar cell systems, and to be able to share the power with other commercial buildings that need the power. That’s what Storting representative Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde from the Conservative Party says, and a member of the energy and environment committee. She believes it is urgent to get the regulations changed. – We are heading towards a power deficit, and need more power. It is a win-win for everyone if it is possible to build solar systems and share that power in a business park. She believes this will reduce the need to build out more grids, and wind and hydropower can be used elsewhere. Have to buy back the electricity Today, the excess electricity from the solar cells in the cold storage is fed into the power grid, and the company has to buy it back. – This is the challenge, as fees and online rent are added, says Kvam. He hopes the rules will be softened to also apply to facilities as large as the one they have built. – We could have built a smaller solar cell system to use the electricity only on the one building. We chose to invest in a larger facility, in the hope that eventually it will be possible to exchange electricity locally in the business park. A lot of electricity is needed to keep the temperature down to minus 23 degrees at Malvik Freezer. Photo: Bent Lindsetmo / news
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Malvik cold storage must buy electricity they produce themselves because the solar cells are distributed over two buildings – news Trøndelag
