WATCH: Utsira Living Lab

John Arild Arnø is project manager and sustainability officer at the online company Fagne. In addition to sustainability work, he mainly works with R&D projects, internally and in collaboration with external players such as other industry players and customers within the concession area. He has previously worked in the Oil & Gas sector in various roles including engineering, project and personnel management.

Abstract

Lack of power capacity and poor voltage quality to/at Utsira was the start of several projects where Fagne looked at alternatives to strengthen both capacity and voltage quality without having to change the 17km long submarine cable. Which would have been a very expensive and demanding job to carry out. Plans were made to replace the supply network, fiber network and test out alternative solutions for energy supplies. Utsira Living Lab was eventually established and the projects were entered under this concept. The concept eventually gained strength and direction as we gained an increased focus on the energy industry and their expected contribution to "the green shift". Demands to improve the power readiness of the island resulted in the purchase and installation of a used battery/power electronics plant previously used as a charging station for ferries. This was combined with the existing power grid and two older wind turbines that were already on Utsira. Today, Utsira can be operated as an island operation when the power from shore fails. Utsira Living Lab is today a collaborative project across the Haugaland Kraft group in which Utsira municipality is a central player.