Western Norway Research Institute has through several decades distinguished itself as a competent and recognized research institution within the energy and environmental research area. At the University College of Sogn and Fjordane there is a growing interest in renewable energy within several disciplines such as Economics, Finance, Marketing, Organization and Management, Landscape Management, Geology and Engineering.

By coordinating and developing all these special fields, and by linking up with leading academics nationally and internationally, the two institutions aim to create a powerful expert group on renewable energy in the County of Sogn and Fjordane. The research program has a budget of 11.3 million NOK, and will finance the following positions over four years:

1 Professorship
3 Research Fellows/PhD students

The three scholarships are funded through:

• a grant from Statkraft
• a grant from Sogn and Fjordane Energi
• a grant from Sparebanken Sogn and Fjordane and The Research Council of Norway

The Professorship is funded by seven Norwegian energy companies – Statkraft, Sogn og Fjordane Energi, as well as five other local energy companies.

The effort to increase the production of renewable energy is associated with a number of challenges. The academic focus of the research program is conditions and possible management models for increased production and use of renewable energy. The program is interdisciplinary in nature and combines the social sciences perspectives and methods with technological insights from the natural sciences. The program is closely linked to the national technological research field.

Within a short time period, several programs and centres for renewable energy have been established in Norway, some with funding from the Research Council of Norway (FMEs in 2009). These are in most cases, anchored in the field of Technology, with a focus on technological development (NTNU/SINTEF/IFE). Furthermore, there are strong professional communities anchored in Economics.

The Renewable Energy programme at Western Norway Research Institute and the University College of Sogn and Fjordane focuses on the development of knowledge of the political and economic framework and management possibilities for production and distribution of renewable energy, including environmental and resource conditions, economic, market and institutional conditions. Insight into renewable energy sources such as water, wind, biomass and geothermal  energy is important to see what possibilities there are for developing a renewable energy industry both in Norway and in other countries. One of our key objectives is to study the possibilities for, and the challenges in, developing such an industry.

The Renewable Energy Programme seeks to build knowledge that can be disseminated to scientific communities in Norway and abroad, including municipalities and other local and reginal bodies in Sogn and Fjordane.

Within these limits, the Western Norway Research Institute and the University College of Sogn and Fjordane have selected five realms of knowledge that form the scientific basis for the programme:

• Comprehensive environmental analysis of the value chain for renewable energy, including environmental analysis, energy and resource analysis, sustainable energy production and consumption
• Barriers and success criteria for increased production and consumption of renewable energy
• Analysis of economic instruments and market potential for renewable energy
• Local land use and environmental analysis related to production and distribution of renewable energy
• Interaction, governance and innovation as the basis for industrial development