Interview with Rolf Andre Leidland, Project Manager at Eigersund Næring og Havn KF (ENH)

Eigersund Næring og Havn KF (ENH) represents the municipality and the local business of Eigersund, Norway, where the ROBINSON’s demo island Eigerøy is located. With a deep knowledge of the territory, the local and national stakeholders, and the needs of Eigerøy, ENH ensures an alignment between ROBINSON and the island’s long-term strategy. To discover more about ENH and the Clean Energy Transition Agenda on Eigerøy, we sat together with Rolf Andre Leidland, Project Manager at ENH.

What is ENH’s role in the ROBINSON project?

Eigersund Næring og Havn KF (ENH) is a so-called kommunalt foretak – an organization established and owned by the municipality of Eigersund. It has three main areas of responsibility: Harbour, Industry and Tourism. The goal of the organization is to ensure that the municipality of Eigersund has a competitive, sustainable and coordinated industrial development, including tourism. In the ROBINSON, ENH will contribute to:

• Provide required information to the definition of the baseline layout, the specifications and the concept final outline to make sure that it fits with the island’s future strategies (WP1)
• Support PRIMA Protein in the preparation of the pilot plant layout and of the layout of the neighborhood/surrounding, where all existing components are installed (WP4)
• Perform a social study for social acceptance of the solutions on Eigerøy (including gender) contributing to the social impact management plan prepared by NORCE (WP5)
• Represent the local business, provide information on tourism and handle the business cases and especially those in connection to the harbor and the electrification of ships (WP6)
• Be actively involved with the communication & dissemination of results on Eigerøy.

Why did the island of Eigerøy join ROBINSON?

It’s easier to get companies involved in an energy transition while being a part of a Horizon 2020-project. Proofs that green can be positive for both the environment and the economy, giving the industry two good reasons to support the transition. ROBINSON can help industrial companies on Eigerøy to become users of clean, secure and cost-effective  energy. Eigerøy becoming a pilot island on island-decarbonisation-technology, can have a great impact on the interest of and the type of industry coming to the island.

Can you tell us more about Eigerøy’s Clean energy Transition Agenda?

The Clean energy Transition Agenda for Eigerøy is accompanying the “Cleaner Harbour” initiative. By using organic waste as biofuel we also reduce waste to sea. The green shift introduces a new view on what’s previously called waste. Waste for one part can be resources for another.

How does ROBINSON leverage the characteristics of the territory?

Eigerøy is a small, but diverse island. The weather varies a lot throughout the year, with wind, rain, sun and snow, and sometimes everything in the same day. There is a variety of different industries, ranging from oil service, offshore industry, entrepreneurs, tech-companies, up to fishing and protein industry. Prima Protein belonging to the latter and part of Robinson.  Farms in different sizes are also a part of the island, and of course the approx. 2500 inhabitants. All this together in addition to the manageable size, make Eigerøy a perfect island to set up a small scale test-site, where different technologies can be integrated and play their role in the decarbonisation of Eigerøy. From wastewater valorisation, to a renewable-fuel based Combined Heat and Power unit and hydrogen energy storage, ROBINSON will leverage the uniqueness of the island offering in return a tailor-made solution that can cover the needs of Eigerøy and support it in the energy transition.

Do you want to know more about the characteristics of our demo island? Then click here!

What will be the next steps?

The next step is to get the test-site up and running, and prove that it is possible to be clean and green regardless of where you are located.

Any last comment?

Being a part of ROBINSON really makes a difference. It is a real eye opener, showing the wide array of possibilities and alternative solutions to make the transition from fossils to green.