Electricity prices skyrocketed in September last year and, apart from some periods of more normal prices, have remained high in recent years. August and September of this year in particular were bad, with prices above NOK 4 per kilowatt hour.
The month before the electricity price explosion, spouses Kari Nytrøen and Bjørn Nytrøen-Rygh had installed solar cells on the roof of their Syringa farm in Rendalen.
Now they haven’t paid for electricity for several months.
Was The Oriental who first mentioned the matter.
Moved from Oslo
We lived in Oslo for many years before deciding to move into my childhood home, which is a farm in Rendalen. We started by rehabilitating the barn, which was falling down. After that, we looked at the roof and played with the idea of a solar cell system, Kari Nytrøen tells DinSide.
He describes the move from the city to the farm as a great transition, but that they had had enough of city life and wanted to contribute to the development of the district.
Before installing the solar system on the farm, they talked to several people who already had it, but weren’t completely convinced. They then contacted Energi Pluss, a solar cell supplier in Tynset, who had all the answers the couple needed.
– We installed the facility in August 2021, but it was only this year that we could see the potential. It’s not a decision we regret as the flow is these days, Nytrøen says.
Here’s what the bill will look like
Electricity not paid since April
Even though the farm is in the shade during the day, they still took advantage of the plant and saved a lot. In fact, they haven’t paid a bill since April.
– We haven’t paid an electricity bill for the house since April. Much more was produced this summer than we used and therefore we were able to sell electricity. It would have been best to have the opportunity to save electricity for the cold months, but investing in storage capacity costs a lot, says Nytrøen-Rygh.
On one of the beautiful days of October, the couple recorded a production of 44 kWt against 80 kWt, a record for the summer. Consumption and production for the network are shown in an app, which they keep an eye on.
It will give away 8.5 billion
The solar system cost the pair NOK 200,000 and, even with high electricity prices and resale of electricity, it will take some time for the pair to break even.
– The best summary is that we cover half of our annual consumption. This process has made us much more interested in monitoring our electricity consumption. Over the past year, this awareness has led to other measures to save electricity, Nytrøen says.
The couple say the heating turns off at night, while they have energy-saving light bulbs and app-controlled lights.
– We have a much lower consumption this year than last year, regardless of self-produced electricity. We also closely followed when electricity is more expensive, Nytrøen-Rygh.
