Norway
PV technology status and prospects
Knut-Erik Madsen, Oslo Energi AS 		home > annual reports > annual report 2001 >

Fig. 1 - A new solar cell laboratory at IFE with a production line for crystalline silicon solar cells was opened in desember 2001 by managing director Bruno Ceccaroli from ScanCell AS (Task 1 member) (left). Department head fo energy systems Per Finden (right) and section head for renewable energy Arve Holt (Task 3 member) (middle) are also present.

General Framework

Renewable sources of energy are an essential ingredient of the Government’s plan for energy production in Norway for the future. The political willingness to support PV in general is still limited. The public financial support is concentrated on development of basic materials and production processes for PV. The upcoming feedstock problem for the PV industry and the strong metallurgical silicon industry in Norway, make it natural to take on R&D in this area. The enormous natural gas resources in the North Sea are not used onshore in Norway. A new directorate called ENOVA, is responsible for the reorganization of the energy use from direct electric heating to natural gas and central heating. ENOVA is also responsible for financing and demonstrating how renewables can take part in the whole energy picture of Norway.

In the spring of 2002, the Government will set forth a notification about natural gas and trade of "green certificates". This will probably send new signals out to the energy market and help to promote none polluting energy.

An interesting initiative that perhaps will awaken the Norwegian politicians, is the EU project "PV Nord": In order to reach the goals of the EU White Paper on Energy (12% renewable energy before 2010), building integrated PV-modules is one of the possible measures to take. The EU wishes to reinforce the development of building integrated systems in all European countries. PV-Nord is a tool in this context that especially focuses on the northern part of the EU and the accession states. The project was started in January 2002 and will continue until the end of 2004. It consists of eight demonstration projects and thematic work in the following areas:

The project is coordinated by the NCC Construction Company in Sweden and consists of partners from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. KanEnergi (www.kanenergi.no), a Norwegian consulting company, is responsible for the work on financing and ownership. A project website will be established for further and continuously updated information on the project. Please visit www.ncc.se for the future internet reference.
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Fig. 2 - Sketch of Kvernberget Junior High School

National Programme

The NYTEK programme financed by the Norwegian Research Council ended in 2001. The programme was renewed for another 5-year period, but the Photovoltaics in this programme must compete with other renewables like bioenergy, wind, waves, hydrogen, thermal solar and others.

New renewables (except hydro) are exempted from a certain energy tax, but still, there are no market incentives for promoting photovoltaic systems. Photovoltaics are looked at as other renewables. In a very windy country which has such a long, dark winter, photovoltaics are not always in the winning position amongst renewables.
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Research and Development

The funding of R&D for photovoltaics is still at a low level in spite of the growing industrial activity on photovoltaics.

A new R&D solar cell laboratory has been established in Norway. Last summer, the Institute for Energy Technologies (IFE) invested in a R&D production line for crystalline silicon solar cells. The line typically produces batches of 25–50 solar cells given a certain parameter set-up. Currently, the production line produces solar cells with an efficiency of around 13-14%, based on a standard process delivered by the equipment.

This new laboratory is a part of the strategic programme in the area of renewable energy at the Institute. IFE's long-term goal is to build up national and international expertise on production of solar cells based on crystalline silicon. To achieve this goal IFE will:

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Fig. 3 - From Silicon feedstock to Solar Energy Systems

Implementation

There are no new initiatives from the government focusing on photovoltaics. On the local level, some initiatives have been taken. One example is a demonstration of PV cells on Kvernberget Junior High School in Fredrikstad, Norway (front page) Kvernberget Junior High School has a green section that will demonstrate growth, trees and plants, and recycling of materials. There is a blue section that will demonstrate water, and a yellow section that will demonstrate the sun and solar energy. The plan is to use small string inverters which require the connection of 12 standard modules in series. It means that the system will work at 216 Vdc and it will inject into the grid at 240 Vac. The school wants PV cells in laminated glass, the yellow polycrystalline type.

In Oslo, a new section of town will be built over the next years. It will include offices, an opera house and 5 000 appartments (900 000 m2). The goal of the local authorities is to have balance between production and consumption of energy within the area. This is a difficult task and from E-CO Partner (consultant www.e-co.no), it has been suggested to use photovoltaics to produce electricity. It will be necessary to use 150 000 m2 of PV-panels to produce a sufficient amount of electricity.
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Industry Status

An emerging Norwegian PV industry is clustering around "ScanWafer" (fig. 3). "ScanWafer” is expanding and has finished a new production facility at Glomfjord and has decided to build a new production facility at Herøya/South of Oslo. "ScanCell" will operate during 2002. "SolEnergy" is operating in South Africa.

Architects and consultants are exporting competence to several areas. Here are some interesting examples:

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Fig. 4 - Colombo TV Building

Market Development

The main markets for PV in Norway have been related to off-grid applications: This applies to cabins, leisure boats and lighthouses/lanterns along the coast. Exceptions are the demonstration projects for which grid-connection, in some cases, were suitable. However, in the period after 1992, the slowdown in the market for cabins has partly been compensated by the development of new markets. The most significant markets are PV powered coastal lighthouses. Even north of 70 degrees, PV, provided that the battery package has sufficient capacity, may power lighthouses. Approximately 2 350 installations serving lighthouses and coastal lanterns have been realized. The smallest are equipped with one single module of 60 W and the largest with arrays counting up to 66 modules. Applications of stand-alone PV for telecommunication stations and for leisure boats have also grown over the past years.

In the period after 1992, application of PV in combination with other energy sources has been demonstrated for permanent domestic dwellings where the distance to existing electricity grid exceeds approx. 10 km. In particular, combinations of PV with diesel generators have been used. Utility companies have made some selective investments for providing electricity to remote dwellings. The total cumulative PV Power for each submarket is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Installed PV capacity by sub-market
sub-market/ application31 Dec. 1992 [kW]31 Dec. 1993 [kW]31 Dec. 1994 [kW]31 Dec. 1995 [kW]31 Dec. 1996 [kW]31 Dec. 1997 [kW]31 Dec. 1998 [kW]31 Dec. 1999 [kW]31 Dec. 2000 [kW]
off-grid domestic3 7003 9704 2404 4604 6804 9005 1005 4005 650
off-grid non domestic100130160190220250300320330
grid-connected distributed      4650
grid-connected centralized         
TOTAL3 8004 1004 4004 6504 9005 1505 4005 7306 030
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Niche markets

SunLab owner, Civil Architect Harald N. Røstvik and the Industrial Designer, Peter Opsvik have designed and constructed a prototype three-wheeler, "THE SOLAR BUTTERFLY", a solar electric vehicle for Asian conditions. The vehicle has been undergoing extensive tests in an Asian garden city (no motorways) and the results of tests on almost rural-like roads with slow traffic are encouraging. The NiCad battery bank is fed by 340 Wp solar modules and can also be charged from the mains. A windmill in combination with the solar PV has also been tried out.
Fig. 6 - The solar Butterfly The initiative has two objectives: Further technological development of The Butterfly, by constructing more and improved prototypes, will depend on external financing. More information can be found on www.sunlab.no
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Future Outlook

The most interesting trend in Norway for PV developments is the emergence of the PV industry taking advantage of national competence and resources. ScanWafer (fig. 3) will be one of the world's largest manufacturers of multicrystalline silicon wafers within a few years.

Currently, the solar power industry depends on a semiconductor industry silicon by-product for the production of solar cells, the core component in systems that generate solar electric power. The limited availability and high price of solar-grade silicon feedstock have historically constrained solar industry growth. Developing a dedicated source of low-cost solar-grade silicon feedstock is key to removal of this fundamental barrier to widespread adoption of solar electric power and further growth in the solar industry. At present, several global industrial players are working on resolving the feedstock issue. In Norway, Elkem is developing its metallurgical process technologies to industrialize an efficient process for production of solar grade silicon in cooperation with AstroPower.

Elkem is the world's largest producer of silicon metal. The programme where Elkem and Norwegian Technical University are involved is addressing perhaps the most critical issue for the global PV industry, the emerging lack of sufficient feedstock for PV.
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Further reading about Norway

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