Norway’s residential PV market saw a small contraction in 2020

The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) allocated NOK31 million (€3.03 million) across 1,613 rooftop PV projects totaling 31.7 MW under the Plusskundeordningen solar rebate program in 2020, according to new statistics released by Enova, a government enterprise responsible for the promotion of environmentally friendly production and consumption of energy.

In the previous year, the NVE allocated 31.9 MW of PV capacity across 1,666 projects under the scheme and the allocated funds had equaled NOK31.9 million.

“2020 was no good year for solar PV in the Nordics, with the lowest power prices in more than two decades and much policy confusion,” Andreas E Thorsheim, the CEO of Norwegian tech company Otovo, told pv magazine. “Now, 2021 looks very strong for residential solar, with power prices back at high levels and an Enova subsidy scheme that many people will want to take advantage of.”

For this year, homeowners who are willing to install rooftop PV arrays will be still be entitled to receive fixed sums of NOK7,500, regardless of the system size. They can also claim an additional NOK1,250 per kilowatt installed, to a maximum of 15 kW. Under Norwegian regulations, owners of PV systems up to 100 kW in size are allowed to sell surplus power to power providers.

Adding the 31.7 MW of residential PV installed last year to the cumulative PV capacity of 120 MW that Norway had reached at the end of 2019, the country has now exceeded 150 MW. This figure, however, does not include commercial PV installations, for which no statistics have been released to date.