Norway

Owners of small-scale PV installations are eligible for registering as prosumers. Prosumers are exempt from grid fees that are otherwise charged from electricity suppliers. Surplus electricity can be transferred to the grid at net electricity retail rates (i.e., excluding grid costs, taxes, and fees). If such installations exceed a limit of 100 kW electric power feed-in to the grid, excluding own consumption, grid connection fees will apply.

The public agency Enova SF subsidizes 25% of the installation costs for grid connected residential PV systems at a rate up to 2 500 NOK per kW. This programme also includes leisure homes with grid connection.

The government agency Innovation Norway supports investments in PV systems in the agricultural sector. It is required that the PV system is used for the commercial operation of the actual farm.

Since 1 October 2023, Norwegian grid customers can take part in a virtual self-consumption scheme, virtually deducting

excess renewable electricity produced by another grid customer from their own electricity use. The criteria being that the grid customers “sharing” electricity are on the same legal property and that the installed capacity of the generation does not exceed 1 MWAC. This scheme was essentially targeted at grid customers in apartment buildings, to remove the discrimination between people living in apartments and people living in houses, when it comes to the right to produce their own electricity.

As of 19 February 2026, there are 390 instances of the virtual self-consumption scheme in use, with 434 metering points contributing and 2 157 receiving/virtually deducting electricity as self-consumed.

On 1 July 2025, the Norwegian government passed an extension, targeting commercial and industrial buildings, to encourage more decentralised PV electricity in industrial areas. The capacity limit for this extension is increased from 1 MWAC to 5 MWAC and the geographical constraint is changed from grid customers on the same property to grid customers in a single commercial area.

Solar power for a global market is one of the 6 priority areas in Energi21, the Norwegian national strategy for Research, Development and Commercialization of New climate friendly energy Technology. The PV industry is from 2023 also a priority area in the Norwegian government’s strategy for green industry (Grønt industriløft).

. The PV related part of the portfolio consists of R&D projects on the silicon chain from feedstock to solar cells research, on novel solar cell concepts, novel applications, and on applied and fundamental materials research.

Leading national research groups and industrial partners in PV technology participate in the Norwegian PV Research Centre (www.fmesolar.no), which is funded by RCN and Norwegian industry partners. The centre is hosted by the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE). FME SOLAR will be in operation from 2024 until 2032, with a total budget exceeding 300m NOK.

FME SOLAR performs R&D targeting the main challenges associated with the extremely rapid growth in the use of PV worldwide. The research topics include digitalization to support accelerated deployment and integration of PV power plants, the role, performance, reliability and impact of PV power plants operating under Nordic conditions, integration of PV systems, sustainable production and recycling of PV materials, as well as new applications and disruptive technologies. Education is a key activity in FME SOLAR, and the centre aims at educating 20 PhD candidates and post-docs, as well as 100 MSc candidates

There are six main R&D groups in the university and research institute sector of Norway, which all participate in the Research Centre:

• Institute for Energy Technology (IFE): Focus on polysilicon production; design, production, and characterization of silicon solar cells; and the effects of material quality on solar cell performance.
• University of Oslo (UiO): The Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology (SMN) is coordinating the activities within materials science, micro- and nanotechnology.
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Trondheim: Materials science, micro- and nanotechnology relevant for solar cells.
• SINTEF Trondheim and Oslo: Focus on silicon feedstock, refining, crystallisation, sawing and material characterisation.
• Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU): Fundamental studies of materials for PV applications and assessment of PV performance in high-latitude environments.
• Agder University (UiA): Research on silicon feedstock. Renewable Energy demonstration facility with PV-systems, solar heat collectors, heat pump, heat storage and electrolyser for research on hybrid systems.

Examples of companies that earlier have been producing PV grade silicon and wafers are REC Solar Norway, Norsun and Norwegian Crystals. The products supplied by these companies had a low carbon footprint compared to the industry average. The operations of these companies were severely impacted by the challenges with competition and prices in Europe and production is now shut down.

Scatec is a large renewable power producer. A major part of its operations is development and operation of PV power plants. The present portfolio of PV power plants has a capacity of approximately 2 GW, located in Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. Also, companies like Equinor and Statkraft are active in these markets.

The PV market has decreased since the record year of 2023, declining both in 2024 and 2025, with installations in the residential section especially plummeting. In 2022, residential installations made up 53% of the market volume, which was down to 11% in 2025.