In short: Elektronikk, Norway's trade magazine for the professional electronics industry, featured Alva in its September 2026 issue and on elektronikknett.no. The article covers how Alva Link gets the energy devices in a home working together through open protocols, and why we built the hardware ourselves. Here is our English summary.
Original article (in Norwegian): “Når apparatene kan snakke sammen om strømprisen” (“When appliances can talk to each other about the electricity price”) by Einar Karlsen, editor of Elektronikk. In print in Elektronikk 9/2026, pages 22–23, and online since 19 October 2026. Read it on elektronikknett.no → · See the magazine pages →
What did Elektronikk write about?
Electricity prices can change every hour, or even every 15 minutes, but the heat pump, battery, solar panels and EV charger in most homes don't coordinate with each other. Alva Link connects them, so the home can decide as one system when to use, store or produce energy.
Why does Alva Link use open protocols?
Instead of proprietary solutions, Alva Link speaks established energy standards: Modbus TCP/IP over Ethernet, Modbus RTU over RS-485, OpenTherm, SG-Ready and OCPP. That lets one device work across many brands of heat pumps, batteries, solar inverters and EV chargers. It already works with Home Assistant and Homey, and Matter support is planned as a software update. We explain what each standard does in our guide to making a heat pump and solar panels work together.
“Users should no longer be locked into a specific standard or smart home vendor. They can connect existing and new equipment as they like, with one device,” Ola Magnus Hersvik, our co-founder and CEO, told the magazine.
Can I install Alva Link myself?
That is the goal. Until now, connecting devices and keeping an eye on prices has mostly been the homeowner's job. “That's fine if it's your hobby. But most people just want things that work,” Ola said. In most cases, he added, you can install Alva Link yourself in about ten minutes, though some systems can be a bit more fiddly. It comes with guidance for your equipment and colour-coded, labelled cables.
Compatibility depends on your exact models, so check yours on the Alva Link product page or ask us in chat.
Why build the hardware from scratch?
All of Alva Link's hardware was developed from the ground up, with a strong focus on component choices, manufacturability and price. Development, testing and prototyping happen in-house at StartupLab in Oslo and FAKTRY in Trondheim. “There is a lot of electronics engineering craft in this product, from people who know the trade,” Ola said. Read more about that work in How we're building Alva Link in Norway.
Where can I read the original article?
Thanks to Einar Karlsen and Elektronikk for the coverage. The full article, in Norwegian, is on elektronikknett.no and in Elektronikk 9/2026, pages 22–23 (see the magazine pages). Photo of Ola in the magazine: Elektronikk/Einar Karlsen.
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