Inland transportsof wind turbines in Sweden

Abstract

Due to the EU directives regarding renewable energy, wind energy is expanding rapidly in Europe, including Sweden. The demand for wind turbines are increasing and wind turbines are increasing in size as well, in order to retrieve as much renewable energy as possible. However, the increasing demand for wind turbines consequently leads to an increasing number of transports of wind components. The wind energy market is still young and different actors within wind energy have their own opinions on which activities in the supply chain of a wind turbine that are critical. The authors of this thesis have interviewed experienced actors in the line of business in order to gather information from different point of views. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate difficulties faced when transporting wind components. Furthermore, the reader will be given a background to the wind energy market in order to understand its complexity. Moreover, the function and components of wind turbines will be described in order to introduce the reader to difficulties faced when transporting wind components in Sweden. This thesis investigates how the supply chain is affected and if there are any critical activities that can be avoided.