These analyses are based on data from Elhub during the period May 2019 to April 2021. Our focus is on prosumers with photovoltaic systems, since in the household sector prosumers almost exclusively have such plants.
During the period studied, the number of prosumers increased by just over 150 per cent, from almost 2,500 to over 6,100. These households have an average of 9 kW load installed and an average sale of electricity between approximately zero and 500 kWh per month.
In the report, we look at the geographical location of household prosumers in Norway. We find most prosumers in Viken county. However, if you compare the number of prosumers relative to the number of households in the counties, being a prosumer is most common in the county of Agder, followed by Viken, Rogaland, Vestfold and Telemark and Innlandet.
To analyse whether prosumer customer group differs from other electricity customers, we have compared some key variables relative to a random sample of other household customers (non-prosumers). We have also followed customers who become prosumers during the period back in time (pre-prosumers) to see how they have changed their consumption after they became prosumers and whether they differ from other households also in the period before they become prosumers. We find a significantly higher purchase of electricity from both pre-prosumers and prosumers compared to the sample of other households. During the winter months, when the purchase of electricity is at its highest, we see no reduction in prosumers' purchases due to their own electricity production compared to pre-prosumers, while we see a clear reduction during the rest of the year and especially during summer when production is at its highest.
We find large differences in household characteristics between prosumers and non-prosumers. Prosumers have a higher household income, live in larger households, live more often in detached houses, have a larger living area, and own the home to a greater extent than the average household. However, there are no major differences in the year of construction for their homes.
Based on the results from our analyses, we create a simulation model to calculate the consumption and production of electricity from photovoltaic systems by household prosumers (SOLEL+). We find that these prosumers' production of electricity varies from month to month, but not as much as their consumption. Almost all electricity production goes to own consumption during the winter, but in the summer these prosumers sell almost as much electricity to the grid as they use of their own production. We find that the predicted expected total production (i.e., the sum of consumption of own production and sales to the grid) per household varies between almost zero and up to 1000 kWh per month over the period being analysed.