Skip to content

Video player cover image — Village Powered by Renewables

Climate Adaptation

Ancient Swedish Hamlet Holds Lessons for Future of Clean Power

Villagers capture and store solar energy in batteries at home as EU’s Clean Energy Package will encourage more mini-grids

By

Jess Shankleman, and

May 15, 2021, 10:00 PM UTC

A thousand-year-old Swedish village could become a blueprint for local energy grids of the future.

Simris, with a population of about 200, has shown that operating independently from the national grid is technologically possible. Villagers use locally produced renewable energy stored in freezer-sized batteries in their homes.