On 8 September our team wrapped up our 2nd Transnational Meeting inspiring site visit to our host Urban Living Lab, Ifö Center—a massive 43,000 square meter former factory in Bromölla, Sweden, that was bought through crowdfunding in 2019 and reclaimed as an artist-run cultural hub.

During our tour alongside the site’s operational team, we got to meet the artists in residence, explore the creative work happening across the site, and climb up to inspect the expansive rooftop where the initial solar panels will soon sit, taking in the sweeping views of Bromölla surrounding us.

A true highlight was experiencing a live acoustic music performance inside the former high-voltage demonstration hall—a perfect example of how historic industrial architecture can be transformed into atmospheric creative venues.

Potential of the vast rooftop and sand battery

Speaking with the team, their immediate goal within Co-PED is energy survival. Managing a site of this scale creates huge overhead, so they want to start with rooftop solar panels and battery storage for self-consumption, bringing the venue’s electricity costs down.

The long-term vision is even bigger. With their vast roof surface, Ifö Center has the potential to install 5 to 6 MWp of solar capacity. They plan to combine this with sand batteries or water thermal storage for space heating, while setting up Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to sell surplus electricity to the nearby ceramic factory—funding their cultural work with the revenue.

A sand battery works by using excess clean electricity to heat ordinary sand inside an insulated container to over 500°C, storing thermal energy for months to deliver zero-carbon heating during cold Swedish winters. 

Workshops and panel discussions

Beyond exploring the physical site, the gathering brought everyone together for two days of sessions and workshops.

Day one opened with an exploration of cultural and social infrastructures in the energy transition, focusing on local and national insights. This was followed by a World-Café session on enabling local energy resilience, bringing together European policy and community perspectives. Stay tuned—we will be publishing a summary of the core insights and key takeaways from these discussions very soon!

On day two, participants shifted to practical working sessions on community engagement and financial sustainability, using real-world project baselines to help participating sites build resilient business frameworks and strong local backing.

Food for thought

We left Bromölla inspired by the immense potential of Ifö Center and energized by what is possible when culture and clean energy converge. From its potential, Ifö Center is actually one of the biggest cases in our project, but turning these ambitious plans into reality means they really need support from energy experts—which is exactly where Co-PED steps in with specialized guidance. 

A special thank you to our hosts at Ifö Center and Teresa Holmberg for welcoming us, and to Trans Europe Halles (TEH) for supporting the organization of this visit.