Large ground-mounted solar power plants are new in Norway. Currently, only two such power plants have been granted a licence, but around 50 are being planned. In Ringsaker municipality, the company Energeia will use nearly 8,400 acres of open land for solar power plants, combined with grazing. Mayor Anita Ihle Steen will process the application in accordance with the Planning and Building Act and not as a license case for NVE. She points out that the large facilities will have major consequences both for nature, for animals and those who live nearby. WANTS GOVERNANCE: When large solar power plants are to be considered built in the municipality, mayor Anita Ihle Steen (Ap) wants to have her hand on the wheel. Photo: Lars Erik Skrefsrud – I think it is now important to run good processes. Then it’s important that we do it right, so that we don’t get people to accept us before we start the development of solar power, she says. In its preliminary comment on the application, the municipality points out that the areas contain both grazing areas for wild reindeer, hiking areas, bogs, cultural monuments, forests and cultivated land. Will do right from the start The Ringsaker mayor emphasizes that she is positive about renewable energy and solar power, but that it is important to have thorough processes that look after the local community. The government has proposed legislative changes that give municipalities power over wind power development. COOPERATION: There is a similar solar power plant that this company Energeia will build. They believe that solar power and open field grazing should go hand in hand. Photo: Adobe stock This happens after the wind power development became very controversial and the municipalities felt that they lost power over the development. Now Ihle Steen believes that her government should consider including ground-mounted solar power plants in the same legislative changes. – When I see what is happening in Ringsaker now, the company here called Energeia has entered into agreements with landowners for a total of 8,400 acres. This means that it has major consequences and this is just one municipality, we will face this in many, she says. Supports legislative change The company Energeia believes it is right now to build out large ground-mounted solar power plants because it is the cheapest form of energy production. And emphasizes that they are already concerned with a good dialogue with the municipality before they submit a license application. POSITIVE: Adm.dir. Viktor E. Jakobsen in Energeia supports the mayor’s wish for municipal governance in solar energy matters. Photo: Reidar Gregersen – I have great sympathy for the mayor’s wish to also make licensing processing of solar power plants a matter under the Planning and Building Act. We fully support that, says managing director, Viktor E. Jakobsen. Jakobsen believes that municipal governance is not an obstacle to rapid case processing, quite the opposite. Energeia’s solar power project Energeia, which wants to build out in Ringsaker, is concerned that the power plants they build must be in cooperation with agriculture. – If there is no agriculture, there will be no solar power plants. Plain and simple, says managing director Viktor E. Jakobsen. By using the areas for grazing, predation protection and new cultivation, their aim is for the areas to retain the LNF regulation. The solar power plant can be removed later and nature restored. The company has entered into agreements with landowners in the municipality on a total of six areas. The total area is 8,400 acres. Gets support from Rødt Rødt supports the mayor of Ringsaker and believes that if solar power is to be successful, the municipalities must be given more power from the start. As the plan now is for wind power. Therefore, during next week’s consideration of new legislative amendments, the party will propose to the Storting that ground-mounted solar power plants become part of the new regulations for wind power plants. – It is to avoid that we get the same headless development of large facilities (such as wind power, journal note) in conflict with both local democracy and in conflict with valuable hiking and nature areas, says parliamentary representative for Rødt, Sofie Marhaug. WANTS LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The Nature Conservation Association in the Interior and leader Ole Midthun wants the municipalities to be able to say no to projects. At the same time, they want a national safety valve for nature. Photo: Frode Meskau Rødt and Naturvernforbundet on solar power Rødt: Rødt is not in principle against solar power. But as they say, against it happening with haste and haste and across the board from good democratic processes that the Planning and Building Act lays down. Storting representative Sofie Marhaug believes that it is urgent to get these rules in place at the same time as there are legislative changes for wind power. If not, she believes that the developers will take advantage of the opportunity. – There is now a window where they can try the same type of development for ground-mounted solar power plants. We fear that this window will lead to mindless development hostile to nature, she says. Naturvernforbundet: The Naturvernforbundet in Innlandet is happy about the boom in solar power in recent years, but is also cautious on behalf of nature. – But what we see now is that we are about to have a construction boom where we will put large green areas in the interior under solar power plants. There will be a violent industrialization of what is today nature, says Ole Midthun, leader of the Nature Conservation Association in the Interior. He believes it is good to test out some projects, but does not want a large-scale development now. First, they want development on roofs, car parks and in industrial facilities. And a large-scale energy efficiency improvement. Local power and national guidelines The Nature Conservancy also supports that the development of ground-mounted solar power must be processed in accordance with the Planning and Building Act. – We believe that the municipality should have the right to say no in cases for which there is no local support, but at the same time we want mechanics present to safeguard national goals for the protection of natural diversity, says Ole Midthun, leader of the Nature Conservation Association in Innlandet. Because it can also be unfortunate to give too much power to the municipalities, according to the Nature Conservancy Association. – There is a lot of deconstruction of nature that is authorized in the Planning and Building Act, where we as a hearing body with our professional assessments are put aside. The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has not yet wished to comment on this matter. FOREST AREA: The areas that are wanted to be developed in Ringsaker include, among other things, forest, grazing areas, cultivated area and grazing for wild reindeer. Photo: Reidar Gregersen How much can a solar power plant produce? The power in a solar power plant is measured in watts or megawatts (1 million watts). While the energy it delivers is measured in terawatt hours (TWh). Or gigawatt hours (GWh). There are 1000 GWh in a TWh. An area of close to 2,000 meters will be able to provide around 150 MW in power and produce around 150 GWh. These are the solar power plants that are in the system of NVE For license processing: Kile solar power plant in Sør-Fron in the Inland Birkeland solar park in Birkenes municipality in Agder Måna solar power plant in Alvdal municipality Engene solar power plant in Larvik in Vestfold and Telemark License application that is not yet being processed: Ørje Solkraftverk in Marker municipality in Viken Solar power plants as developers have registered: Seval forest solar power plant in Gjøvik, Inlandet Øystadsmarka solar power plant in Søndre Land municipality in Inlandet Store Nøkleberg solar power plant in Østre Toten, Inlandet Mæhlum Solar power plant and inland pasture in Gjøvik, Inlandet Sem solar power plant in Tønsberg and Sandefjord municipalities Bronkemoen solar power plant Barkåker solar power plant in Tønsberg in Vestfold and Telemark Simonstad solar power plant in Åmli municipality in Agder Løvbergmoen solar power plant at Elverum in Innlandet Source: NVE
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Will avoid solar power becoming as controversial as wind power – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
