Northern Homes on tour! Visit to Havøysund and Hammerfest
During a week in October 2023, the Northern Homes project group conducted their first visit to the possible solar energy pilot house in Finnmark, and engaged with a range of local organisations, companies, and individuals.
Located in the municipality of Måsøy, Havøysund is a dynamic fishing village with around 900 inhabitants. Here, the project group met with a homeowner interested in trying out solar energy solutions. We greatly appreciated the friendly welcome and engaged in informative and insightful discussions. Documentation of the house was done with images and measurements.
In Havøysund, we also had meetings with inhabitants, representatives from the municipal management, the Fire Service, the transmission system operator NettiNord, and representatives from local businesses. The local people we met were interested and curious about solar technology and raised many relevant questions regarding solar products, usage, and the economy of such installations. These are topics that we will continue working on during the rest of the project.
An open meeting at the local library led to an interesting discussion on cultural heritage, building upgrading, and solar energy. Havøysund school was visited by a UiT researcher who gave presentations on solar energy at both primary and secondary levels - hopefully inspiring a new generation of engineers!
The project group then sailed to Hammerfest to participate in a conference on construction and building (Bygg og anleggskonferansen), arranged by Hammerfest business organisation (Hammerfest næringsforening). There were many interesting talks on the future activities in Hammerfest, regarding both housing and industry. The talk “Can solar cells bring new life to reconstruction houses?” was well received, with numerous questions and follow-up discussions.
In Hammerfest, the project group arranged another open meeting on solar energy and reconstruction houses, hosted this time at the Museum of Reconstruction. There were good discussions and questions, on history and cultural heritage, on how reconstruction houses can be conserved or modernised, and the economics of producing one’s own solar electricity.
The project group would like to offer a big thank you to the people, organizations, and companies in Havøysund and Hammerfest, whom we met. All of them were welcoming and offered many important contributions to the project based on their experience and expertise.