In Norway, Solør Bioenergi Varme AS (Solør Bioenergi), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swedish biomass-fired district energy provider Solör Bioenergy Group (Solör) has announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy the shares in Norske Varmeleveranser AS.
Norske Varmeleveranser owns and operates a district heating plant in Gran in Gran municipality north of Oslo, which supplies public and private customers in the center with approximately 6 GWh of renewable bioheat per year.
Development of the district heating at Gran has taken place in good cooperation between Norske Varmeleveranser and the municipality and has all the way supported the municipality’s growth and climate goals in a good way. Ensuring competitive green energy with high security of supply to both industry, companies and private individuals is of course important to us, said Randi Eek Thorsen, Municipal Director of Gran.
The current owners have built a robust facility and provided Gran’s center with renewable and uninterrupted heat since the start in 2010.
We welcome that the business now has new ownership that will develop the business further and we look forward to a good and constructive collaboration with the new owners regarding the further development of the concession area in the center of Gran, Randi Eek Thorsen said.
Solør Bioenergi now wants to take over the investment and develop the business further in close cooperation with customers and local authorities.
We look forward to supporting Gran municipality’s plans for the development of Gran by offering further development of sustainable heating solutions in the area. The investment in district heating has been – and is – very important to reach overall climate goals, said Hans M. Moss, chairman of Solør Bioenergi Varme.
Expanding operational footprint
Since its start in 2003, Solør Bioenergi together with its parent company, Solör Bioenergy Group, has developed into a leading player in renewable energy in Norway and Sweden.
The company operates in 249 locations in Sweden and Norway where they produce and distribute district heating, steam, and electricity to homes, companies, public businesses, and industries with over 2.5 TWh in total energy deliveries.
The business also includes energy recovery of impregnated wood and production of biomass fuels such as pellets.
For the Norwegian part of the business, the head office is in Kirkenær. With the acquisition of the district heating plant in Gran, Solør Bioenergi strengthens its investment in the Inland region.
In addition, district heating contributes to relieving the load on the electricity grid, which in turn reduces society’s investment needs. It also frees up a lot of electricity capacity for more appropriate purposes than heating, such as electric car charging, said Hans M. Moss.
As a representative of the shareholders in Norske Varmeleveranser, chairman Jan Helge Ekeren expresses his satisfaction that it is industrial and long-term owners who are now taking over and taking the development further.
The establishment and development of district heating in Gran has become a very extensive side business for the current owners, alongside the owners’ daily work.
There is a limit to everything and with the scale, the business has reached, it is right that a professional player with muscles now takes over the responsibility for further development. We are convinced that Solør Bioenergi will contribute to the further development of Gran center by continuing to facilitate sustainable energy solutions. The daily operation of district heating continues with the same high delivery reliability as before and we are very satisfied with that, said Jan Helge Ekeren.
