Smart and sustainable island communities in Orust and Hvaler

Hvaler Kommune og Orust kommun ønsker å utvikle seg som smarte og bærekraftige øysamfunn gjennom å utvikle innovative og næringsutviklende aktiviteter. Begge kommunene er øykommuner som er koblet til fastlandet med få forbindelser med veinett, strøm - og vannforsyning. Dette gjør kommunene sårbare, men det åpner også nye muligheter for å tenke nytt innen smarte løsninger for innsatsområder som energi, vann, klima og miljø. Prosjektet har en tydlig och gemensam idé samt vision för hur de ska kunna använda sina respektive unika miljöer till att utvecklas och bli mer attraktiva och skapa hållbara miljöer med blomstrande och effektivt resursanvändande av boende, näringsliv, verksamheter och besöksnäring. Genom del-aktighet och en förståelse för planeringen hos dem som bor och verkar på öarna skapas möjlighet att möta energi- och klimatfrågorna effektivt, både på kort och lång sikt. Den lokala kontexten och invånarnas liksom näringslivets perspektiv er særdeles viktig för hållbar samhällsplanering, som i sin tur är en förutsättning för en positiv samhällsutveckling på längre sikt. Genom de testmiljöer som prosjektet vill skapa finns möjlighet att finna specifika klimatsmarta lösningar för att bidra till målet om att bli energi- och klimatneutrala. Vi vill utveckla smarta och hållbara ö-samhällen i Orust och Hvaler. Vi ska bli mindre sårbara och minska vårt klimatavtryck. Vi ska minska vår energiförbrukning och öka andelen förnyelsebar energi som är lokalproducerad – både på land och till havs. Vi vill dela kunskap och erfarenheter och lära nytt tillsammans.

Whaler Municipality and Orust Municipality want to develop as smart and sustainable island communities through developing innovative and business-developing activities. Both municipalities are island municipalities that are connected to the mainland with few connections with road networks, electricity and water supply. This makes the municipalities vulnerable, but it also opens up new opportunities for thinking anew within smart solutions for areas of interest such as energy, water, climate and environment. The project has a clear and common idea and vision for how they should be able to use their respective unique environments to develop and become more attractive and create sustainable environments with flourishing and efficient resource use of housing, business, operations and tourism.Through participation and an understanding of the planning of those who live and work on the islands, the opportunity is created to meet the energy and climate issues effectively, both in the short and long term. The local context and the perspective of the residents as well as the business world are extremely important for sustainable societies planning, which in turn is a prerequisite for positive social development in the longer term. Through the test environments that the project wants to create, it is possible to find specific climate-smart solutions to contribute to the goal of becoming energy and climate neutral. We want to develop smart and sustainable island communities in Orust and Hvaler. We must become less vulnerable and reduce our climate footprint. We must reduce our energy consumption and increase the proportion of renewables energy that is locally produced – both on land and at sea. We want to share knowledge and experiences and learn new things together.

In the long term, both municipalities have a goal of fossil independence by 2030 and a goal of becoming energy and climate neutral. To achieve the goals, both behavioral changes and changes in technology and community structure are required , the municipalities must limit their energy use and increase the proportion of renewable alternatives. Four areas were selected, as a result of our feasibility study 2016-2017. Together with residents, summer guests, tourists, business and research, Orust and Hvaler have through 4 different test arenas worked to develop and test smart solutions for municipalities and society in the focus areas climate and environment, distributed / locally produced energy, digitization of water and increased share of fossil-free vehicles on water. Measurable results from the test arenas, and not least the effect on citizens’ behavior patterns, have laid the foundation for Orust and Hvaler as a result of the project to implement solutions from several of the test arenas. This implementation is part of the municipalities’ strategy development to achieve their goals of fossilindependency in 2030. Through a collaboration with Chalmers, the project has carried out an overall design project for sustainable community planning. The design project is extensive in its deliveries, and strengthens the strategy work through its dissemination of knowledge and design projects with Orust as the research arena. Project within testarenas ”Green Harbor / Helgrøn Harbor”, ”Energy production sun and wind” and ”Capture Water consumption” tested various installations. The project’s approach to “smart solutions” established a level of innovation in project implementation that has been positive but also demanding . On the positive side, the project has succeeded in testing new and innovative solutions in the municipalities, while the project on the demanding side has experienced challenges that have led to the need for re-prioritization. This is especially true for Hvaler, who for several reasons could not consider it realistic during the project period to carry out testing of wind power on Hvaler. Green Harbor: The project has installed charging stations for electric boats and put the need for a charging infrastructure along the coastline on the agenda for further work. The transition from fossil to renewable energy within the recreational boat market will in the long run provide major environmental benefits. The installations in the ports are supplemented with installations that support climate- and energy-friendly solutions and population impact such as photovoltaic systems, liquid waste collection, solar-powered benches with charging for mobile phones, WIFI hotspots with communication messages, smart and solar-powered waste containers and more. The project’s facility towards Green Ports and completely green ports has been very successful, and revealed an important focus area for green conversion in coastal municipalities such as Orust and Hvaler. Digitization of water consumption: The project was designed for the municipalities to learn from each other. Orust municipality has in the project been tested digital water meters by mode of Hvaler and developed a solution that will be implemented. The system streamlines and simplifies the municipality’s and residents’ everyday lives through automatic data collection and not least provides monitoring of water leaks. During the project period, we have seen a reduction in water consumption. The project has been innovative and introduced new solutions in the island municipalities’ work with a reduced climate footprint. The level of innovation in the project has also led to challenges that have required re-prioritization or reorganization in project implementation. It is particularly interesting for the municipalities to continue working on measures within the vision of all-green ports.