Sunny farms in the north

Sunny farms in the North is a project that aims to increase knowledge about the production and storage of solar energy for farms in the Swedish regions of Norrbotten and Västerbotten. The project owner, the Federation of Swedish Farmers, works in collaboration with the North Sweden Energy Agency and RISE ETC. Together, they will organise activities around knowledge raising, procurement, installation and follow-up of solar energy systems

The purpose of the project is to increase farmers’ knowledge about solar energy and storage in order to increase the proportion of solar energy and the degree of self-sufficiency in agriculture in Northern Sweden. During the project period, partners will help farmers with orders for solar plants through knowledge raising and joint procurement. The project is aimed at farms that produce, raise or cultivate agricultural and horticultural products, which includes grain, milking, animal husbandry and animal production.

The project implementers have collaborated with students from Luleå University of Technology through a pilot study and a project focusing on battery storage, to dimension battery storage for active farms and investigate the benefits battery storage has for both farmers and electricity network companies.

There has been great interest in the project and seven seminars have been arranged with 160 participants. At these seminars, cases for solar energy built on the conditions of the region have been presented, as well as detailed financial calculations. The activities have included the preparation of material for procurement based on the interest amongst active farmers.

Funders of the project are the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the Federation of Swedish Farmers, the Norrbotten Region, the Västerbotten Region, the County Administrative Board of Norrbotten, the County Administrative Board of Västerbotten, the Längmanska Entrepreneurship Fund and the Green Development Center.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

E-Mail: kjellenergikontornorr [dot] se (kjell[at]energikontornorr[dot]se)

Website: energikontornorr.se

SOURCE: https://www.fedarene.org/best_practices/sunny-farms-in-the-north