Despite the small figure, last year saw the nascent Norwegian PV market expand 29% from the previous year. The country’s cumulative installed PV capacity reached approximately 68 MW at the end of December.
Although its newly installed solar generation capacity was low compared with other European markets, Norway saw another record year for PV deployment in 2018.
According to statistics released by Multiconsult – published on the website of the Norwegian Solar Energy Cluster Solenergiklyngen – the country’s cumulative capacity reached 68 MW at the end of December.
Image: Flickr/xoiram42
The newly installed PV capacity figure for last year was 23.5 MW, which meant a rise of 29% from 2017, when new additions came in at 18 MW. In 2016, new additions totaled only 11 MW but in that year the market registered its largest annual growth – 366%.
“Continued fall in prices and increased electricity prices, as well as more attention to solar energy, explains part of the growth,” said Solenergiklyngen in a statement announcing the 2018 figure.
Trine Kopstad Berenten, general manager of Solenergiklyngen, said: “More and more companies are taking solar energy into their portfolios. In this way, solar energy becomes a more integrated part of the energy mix, together with hydropower and district heating.”
Norway is supporting rooftop solar through the “Plus Customer” scheme – Plusskundeordningen – which requires utilities to buy power from PV system operators.
