Microgrid in Sweden to Send Power to its Neighbors, EVs and the Spot Market
Founded in late 2022, Swedish startup Solar Power Accelerator has hit the ground running. The company has announced that it’s just commissioned its first greenfield microgrid in Lomma, Sweden.
Solar-as-a-service
Solar Power Accelerator is a Swedish microgrid developer that installs commercial utility scale rooftop solar. It’s expected that the Lomma microgrid will immediately generate revenue for the company as it sells surplus electricity to the spot market or through power purchase agreements using a photovoltaic solar-as-a-service model.
When in island mode, the electricity from the company’s microgrid can be used by the building’s owner or by neighboring properties.
The installation also includes Milepost AB’s electric vehicle (EV) hypercharging infrastructure.
“We implement our ecosystem vision to improve energy efficiency by simultaneously addressing shortages both in the power grid and the transportation system and road network. This is achieved through the enabling of charging of electric vehicles with rooftop based solar electricity from our microgrids at an optimal pricing point,” said Pär-Olof Johannesson, CEO of Solar Power Accelerator.
Rooftop solar to power microgrid
Located on the roof of a commercial industrial building along route E6, a busy European highway that runs between the Swedish cities of Malmö and Helsingborg, the microgrid includes a 0.2-MW rooftop solar array.
RSA, a Swedish EPC contractor, completed the installation, which includes roughly 1,000 square meters of solar panels, direct current to alternating current inverters from SolarEdge and a battery that will be used for power balancing.
The building is owned by real estate developer Er-Ho Bygg AB, but Solar Power Accelerator has the right to use the electricity generated by the microgrid under a 25-year lease agreement.
Solar Power Accelerator will also manage settlements and a power purchase agreement with both the national and regional power grids.
Solar Power Accelerator has big plans
The company’s mission is to install 1 TWh of rooftop solar across Sweden, with its microgrids supplying at least 5% of the country’s electricity within the next five years.
It has plans to roll its business model out in other European countries in the coming years.