Norway has installed the world’s northernmost solar farm and battery storage in the Svalbard archipelago, just south of the North Pole.
State-owned energy company Store Norske Energi installed the solar and storage at Isfjord Radio on the island of Spitsbergen, the largest and the only permanently populated island in the archipelago, and the solar farm is expected to come online tomorrow.
Isfjord was built as a radio station in 1933 to provide a communication link between the Svalbard archipelago and Norway’s mainland. It’s still a radio station and a weather station, and now there’s a hotel for tourists and researchers.
The off-grid Isfjord Radio’s new ground-mounted solar farm joins its rooftop solar, which was installed earlier this year. The ground-mounted solar farm sits at 78° north, which makes it the world’s northernmost solar farm. Store Norske hasn’t yet provided details on the specs of the solar panels or battery storage.
The solar and battery storage will reduce emissions at Isfjord Radio by 70%. Before the renewables showed up, close to 200,000 liters of diesel were used at Isfjord Radio annually.
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