Kongsberg Digital, BKK and partners to investigate solutions for zero-emission construction sites

This week, a BKK led project including Kongsberg Digital and seven other partners were given Pilot-E funding to develop zero-emission construction sites.

The Norwegian government has set a target for the construction industry to be fossil free by 2025. While there is great willingness to work towards that target, as of now it makes little sense for individual actors to develop solutions on their own, while other stakeholders in the value chain are at a stand-still. Electrification requires that all actors within the industry develops solutions and competency in parallel. The partnership between nine Norwegian value chain actors enables a broad multi-level approach to electrification.

Multi-level approach

Eight actors are participating in the project. BOB, Backe and Åsen & Øverli are developers with multiple construction sites in their portfolio. They will test fossil free solutions at the construction sites, from planning to operations. Cramo will test battery driven machinery, while EATON will contribute with battery technology competence. AKRA will contribute with technology development for vehicles. Kongsberg Digital will explore a solution for optimizing power supply from the grid to the construction site without overinvesting. BKK participates with BKK Nett [BKK Grid], BKK Varme [BKK Heating] and their R&D department.

Kongsberg Digital’s grid solutions

Creating a fossil free construction site will put a temporary, but heavy strain on the power grid. Before ordering physical grid expansions, the developers will want to see if there if there are better, more cost-efficient alternative ways of securing sufficient power supply. Kongsberg Digital will develop software services to optimize utilization of grid capacity in both technical and commercial sense. Working towards self-service portals, the grid companies will be able to lower their labor-costs, improve their response time and at the same time allow the contractors to find the best combination of alternatives on their own before placing an order for a capacity increase. The grid operator, BKK Nett, is looking for a way to balance and utilize existing grid capacity more efficiently through automated services.

The project receives 14,5 MNOK in funding from Enova, The Research Council of Norway and Innovation Norway through Pilot-E, a scheme to stimulate innovation and business in sustainable energy technology.